LIBRARY 

OF    THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 
Accession          98799     •    Class 


THE 

ANTHRACITE  COAL  INDUSTRY. 


THE 


ANTHRACITE  COAL  INDUSTRY 


A  STUDY  OF  THE 

ECONOMIC  CONDITIONS  AND  RELATIONS  OF  THE  CO- 
OPERATIVE FORCES  IN  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF 
THE    ANTHRACITE      COAL  INDUSTRY  I 
OF  PENNSYLVANIA 


BY 
PETER  ROBERTS,  PH.D. 

WITH  AN  INTRODUCTION  BY 
W.    G.    SUMKER,  LL.D. 

PROFESSOR  OF  POLITICAL  AND  SOCIAL  SCIENCE   IN  YALE  UNIVERSITY. 


fork 
THE    MACMILLAIST    COMPANY 

LONDON:    MACMILLAN  &  CO.,  LTD. 
1901 


'• 


GENERAL 


COPYBIGHT,    1901,    BY 

THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 


PRESS  OF 

THE  NEW  ERA  PRINTING  COMPANY, 
LANCASTER,   PA. 


TO  THE 
PRODUCERS   OF   ANTHRACITE   COAL, 

EMPLOYEES  AND  EMPLOYES, 

THIS  WORK  IS 

+*" 

DEDICATED. 


98799 


PREFACE. 

In  this  work  we  have  undertaken  to  describe  and  discuss  the 
economic  history  and  condition  of  the  anthracite  coal  industry 
of  Pennsylvania.  We  hope  to  follow  it  in  the  near  future  with 
a  study  of  the  social  and  moral  conditions  prevailing  in  the 
same  region. 

Miners  are  deeply  interested  in  economic  questions  and  the 
ideals  and  doctrines  of  socialism  are  to  a  considerable,  and  per- 
haps increasing,  extent  accepted  among  them,  partly  as  a  result 
of  their  observation  and  experience,  and  partly  through  the 
specious,  however  fallacious  and  mischievous,  arguments 
brought  to  bear  on  them  by  agitators.  There  are  in  an- 
thracite communities  a  number  of  very  wealthy  men  who,  a 
few  years  ago,  were  earning  a  scanty  subsistence  by  cutting  coal, 
while  others,  as  skillful  and  diligent  as  themselves,  are  still  in 
the  mines.  This  great  disparity  of  fortune  inclines  many  to 
question  the  justice  of  the  industrial  system  under  which  it  is 
produced.  Socialism  proposes  to  abolish  all  these  ills  of  life 
which  are  incident  to  freedom  of  contract,  and  usher  in  a  para- 
dise of  equal  and  abundant  comfort  for  all.  What  wonder 
that  its  charm  is  felt  by  sympathetic  souls — the  more  so  be- 
cause many  leaders  of  thought,  in  the  press  and  on  the  plat- 
form, having  neither  time  nor  facilities  nor  inclination  to  make 
a  careful  study  of  industrial  evolution  and  trace  the  path  along 
which  society  has  painfully  advanced  to  its  present  condition, 
are  constantly  appealing  to  their  sense  of  justice,  their  love  of 
fair  play,  their  class  interests  and  prejudices,  and  their  love  of 
ease,  on  behalf  of  an  impossible  but  alluring  industrial  order 
which  is  to  be  achieved  by  revolution. 

We  may  acknowledge  that  at  one  time  we  were  under  the 
spell  of  Utopian  socialism,  but  remembering  the  motto  of 
Goethe,  "  to  look  upon  all  sides  of  things,"  we  resolved  to  study 

vii 


Vlll  PKEFACE. 

the  intricate  and  perplexing  problems  daily  raised  by  coal  min- 
ers under  the  guidance  of  masters  whose  reputation  in  Po- 
litical and  Social  Science  is  world-wide.  The  views  to  which 
these  studies  have  led  us  will  be  found  in  the  following  pages. 
Yale's  motto,  "  Lux  et  Veritas  "  has  been  our  guide  in  the  in- 
vestigation, and  the  work  is  offered  to  the  public  on  the  advice 
of  those  in  whose  judgment  we  confide. 

Our  deepest  gratitude  is  due  to  Professors  William  Graham 
Sumner,  LL.D.,  and  William  Fremont  Blackman,  Ph.D.,  of 
Yale  University,  for  their  encouragement,  suggestions  and  cor- 
rections. 

PETER  ROBERTS. 
SCBANTON,  PA.,  August,  1901. 


INTRODUCTION. 

The  anthracite  coal  industry  ranks  as  one  of  the  most  im- 
portant in  the  United  States,  not  so  much  on  account  of  its 
magnitude  as  on  account  of  its  peculiar  position  in  our  indus- 
trial system,  and  the  great  number  of  social  and  economic 
questions  which  cluster  around  it.  It  is  a  limited  natural 
monopoly.  It  is  an  extractive  industry ,~4h£  stock  of  which  is 
exhausted  as  it  is  exploited.  All  the  facts  which  can  be 
learned  about  it  are,  therefore,  as  interesting  to  the  investor  as 
to  the  economist  and  geologist.  The  amount  of  supply,  and 
the  length  of  time  before  it  will  be  exhausted,  are  matters  of 
public  welfare.  Economizing  of  the  supply  and  improvement 
of  the  methods  of  working,  therefore,  interest  us  all.  The 
policy  of  management  of  the  industry  has  turned  upon  a 
series  of  most  interesting  and  important  changes  in  labor  sup- 
ply, modes  of  transportation,  aggregation  of  capital,  and  legis- 
lation. Therefore  we  have  here  a  most  instructive  history  for 
the  statesman  and  man  of  affairs.  The  industry  has  also  been 
the  arena  of  many  experiments  in  labor  organization,  and  of 
many  industrial  wars  over  wages,  hours,  rules,  methods,  etc. 
It  brings  into  cooperation  a  variety  of  interests,  mining,  trans- 
portation, banking,  and  the  subdivision  of  interests  is  such  that 
the  industry,  as  a  whole,  is  a  cluster  of  interests  which  it  is  no 
easy  matter  to  bring  into  harmony.  The  miners  form  a  com- 
munity which  is  to  a  certain  extent  isolated  and  peculiar.  It 
is  not  easily  acted  upon  by  currents  of  thought  which  are  strong 
in  the  rest  of  the  State,  and  it  is,  at  the  same  time,  open  to  agi- 
tation and  internal  commotion  and  strife,  or  to  temporary  fits  of 
feeling  and  irregular  notions.  Hence  arise  peculiar  and  im- 
portant social  phenomena  in  mining  towns  where  laborers  of 
different  nationalities  are  assembled.  The  position  of  women 
and  children,  the  relations  of  marriage  and  the  family,  the  con- 


IX 


X  INTRODUCTION. 

dition  of  churches  and  schools,  all  tend  to  become  anomalous, 
and  strange  or  hostile  to  our  civilization. 

The  author  of  this  book  has  had  exceptional  opportunities 
of  experience  and  observation  which  enlist  his  interest  in  the 
subject  in  the  most  peculiar  manner.  He  has  brought  great  zeal 
and  industry  to  the  study  of  it,  and  he  has  had  a  very  intelligent 
understanding  of  the  points  most  worthy  of  attention.  I  have 
felt  that  I  obtained  from  the  book  a  great  deal  of  trustworthy 
information,  on  various  lines  such  as  those  above  mentioned, 
which  was  to  me  of  great  importance  and  value.  For  this  rea- 
son I  have  urged  that  it  should  be  published. 

W.  G.  SUMNER. 


CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  I.     THE  ANTHRACITE  COAL  DEPOSITS 3-16 

1.  The  Nature  of  Anthracite  Coal 3* 

2.  The  Area  of  the  Anthracite  Coal  Fields 5^ 

3.  The  Veins  of  Coal  and  their  Depth 9   * 

4.  The  Total  Amount  Mined  and  yet  to  be  Mined 11 

5.  The  Influence  of  the  Geological  Structure  of  the  Coal 

Fields  upon  Industrial  Conditions 12  s* 

CHAPTER  II.     DEVELOPING  THE  COAL  BEDS 17-34 

1.  The  Early  Days  of  Mining 18 

2.  Methods  of  Mining 20 

a.  Surface  Mining 20 

b.  Slope  Mining 22 

c.  Shaft  Mining 23 

3.  Cost  of  Maintaining  the  Openings  Made 28 

4.  Increase  of  Money  and  Muscle;    Decrease  of  Profits  and  \ 

Wages „ 30    "^ 

CHAPTER  III.     CAPITALIZATION 35-60 

1.  Capital's  Transforming  Power 35 

2.  Appreciation  of  Coal  Land 36 

3.  Estimate  of  Capital  Goods 42 

4.  The  Cost  of  Production 45 

5.  Distribution  of  the  Productive  Wealth 56     V 

CHAPTER  IV.     TRANSPORTATION 61-82 

1.  Early  Means  of  Transportation  62 

2.  The  Development  of  the  Railroads 65 

3.  Attempts  at  Regulating  Production 69 

——4.  Transportation  Rates  and  Profits 

5.  The  Claims  of  Community  of  Interests 77 

CHAPTER  V.     MINE  MANAGEMENT  AND  INSPECTION 83-101 

1.  The  Need  of  Discipline 84 

2.  The  Duties  of  Inside  Foremen 88 

3.  The  Duties  of  Miners 91 

4.  The  Duties  of  Outside  Foremen 93 

5.  Legislative  Interference 95 


Xll  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  VI.     EMPLOYES  AND  WAGES 102-128 

1.  Personnel  of  the  Employes 103 

2.  Historical  Sketch  of  Wages 108 

3.  Present  Day  Wages Ill 

Variation  in  Wages 114 

5.  Cutting  Down  Allowances 116 

1*  6.  Factors  Affecting  the  Nominal  Wage 117 

7.  Suggestions 122 

CHAPTER  VII.     INCIDENTAL  PROFITS  OF  OPERATORS 129-151 

1.  Houses  Rented 130 

2.  The  Amount  of  Powder  Sold 133 

3.  The  Kind  and  Number  of  Company  Stores 136 

4.  Volume  of  Business  and  Profits 139 

5.  The  Good  and  Bad  of  Company  Stores 145 

CHAPTER  VIII.     ACCIDENTS 152-170- 

1.  Psychical  Effects  of  Accidents 153 

2.  Classification  of  Accidents 157 

3.  The  Number  of  Widows  and  Orphans 164 

4.  The  Injured  Classified  in  Age  Groups 166 

5.  Economic  Loss 168 

CHAPTER  IX.     STRIKES 171-191 

1.  History  of  Strikes 172* 

2.  The  Strike  of  Last  Fall 183 

3.  Estimated  Cost  of  Strikes 186 

4.  The  Effects  of  Strikes 188/ 

CHAPTER  X.     UNIONISM 192-211 

1.  The  United  Mine  Workers'  Organization 193  / 

2.  The  Organizer 197 

3.  The  Effects  of  Unionism 203 

4.  The  Limits  of  Unionism 207 

CHAPTER  XI.     RECLAIMING  THE  WASTE 212-227 

1.  Causes  of  Waste 213 

2.  Improved  Methods  of  Economy 216 

3.  Flushing  the  Mines 219 

4.  Overhauling  the  Culm  Heaps 222 

CHAPTER  XII.     REFLECTIONS 228-257 

1.  The  Capitalistic  System 229 

2.  Facts  which  Labor  Ought  to  Know 234 

3 .  Possible  Improvements  by  the  Syndicate 244 

4.  The  Conditions  of  Peace  and  Prosperity  to  Capital 249 


MAPS,  CHARTS,  ETC. 

PAGE. 

Map  of  Northern  Coal  Field 5 

Map  of  Middle  and  Southern  Coal  Fields 7 

Drawing  of  Sections  of  Borings 9 

Chart  Showing  Amount  of  Coal  Mined,  etc 11 

Drawing  Showing  Difference  in  Coal  Beds 16 

"              "          Outcrops 20 

"              "         Slope  in  Coal 22 

"              "          Timbering 25 

Sketch  Showing  Development  of  Seam  by  Shaft  Mining 26 

Chart  Showing  Proportion  of  Distribution 56 

11           "          Syndicate  Control 66 

"           "         Price  of  Coal  and  Production 75 

Facsimile  of  Mining  Map, 85 

Chart  Showing  Increase  of  Employes,  etc 106 

"           "         Wages  and  Price  of  Coal 110 

"           "         Dockage 119 

"           "          Number  of  Days  Worked 121 

"           "         Amount  of  Powder  Used 136 

"           "          Number  of  Company  Stores 138 

"           "         Number  of  Killed  and  Injured 159 

"           "          Causes  of  Accidents,  etc 161 

11           "          Age-Group  of  Killed '. 166 

xiii 


THE 

ANTHRACITE  COAL  INDUSTRY. 


In  the  counties  of  Lackawanna,  Luzerne,  Schuylkill,  Carbon, 
Northumberland,  Dauphin,  Columbia  and  Sullivan  coal  is  king. 
It  is  the  basis  of  the  economic  life  of  the  major  part  of  the  in- 
habitants of  these  counties.  Without  it,  the  140,000  em- 
ployes now  earning  their  daily  bread  in  these  coal  fields 
would  have  to  eke  out  their  living  in  some  other  industry ; 
the  large  army  of  employes  engaged  in  transporting  the  coal 
to  market  would  be  otherwise  employed  ;  the  flourishing  towns 
and  villages  now  teeming  with  life,  containing  many  happy 
homes  and  thriving  commercial  enterprises,  would  be  deserted ; 
and  the  railroads  which  thread  their  way  over  these  rich  beds  of 
anthracite  and  depend  upon  their  contents  for  the  major  part  of 
their  business,  would  become  little  better  than  valueless.  It 
was  the  discovery  of  coal  which  changed  the  complexion  of  these 
regions.  When  the  coal  beds  shall  have  been  exhausted,  the 
greater  part  of  the  1700  square  miles  of  territory  occupied  by 
them,  will  be  a  "  howling  wilderness."  The  agricultural  and 
fishing  industries  of  the  beautiful  Wyoming  valley,  which 
thrived  in  the  first  quarter  of  the  last  century,  were  supplanted 
by  the  mining  industry.  The  commercial  value  of  coal  was 
greater  than  that  of  wheat  or  shad,  and  the  hope  of  large  and 
quick  returns  by  mining  coal  made  of  the  quiet  farmers  fervid 
and  keen  speculators.  As  the  coal  fields  were  developed,  the 
population  increased,  and  instead  of  exporting  agricultural  prod- 
uce, they  imported  it.  Capital  flowed  freely  into  the  industry. 
Men  bought  farms,  not  for  agricultural  purposes,  but  for  the 
rich  coal  deposits  which  they  contained. 
1  1 


2  THE    ANTHRACITE   COAL    INDUSTRY. 

Railroads  were  built,  coal  exported,  a  large  population  found 
subsistence  in  and  around  the  mines,  and  what  had  been  for  the 
greater  part  of  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century  a  quiet 
agricultural  community,  became  in  the  latter  half,  a  great  indus- 
trial center,  furnishing  employment  to  more  men  and  produc- 
ing greater  wealth,  than  any  other  industry  in  the  state  save 
agriculture.  In  the  progress  of  the  industry,  many  have  made 
and  many  have  lost,  fortunes.  Thousands  of  working  men 
have  by  mining  coal  been  able  to  build  comfortable  homes  and 
raise  happy  families,  while  others  have  wasted  their  earnings  in 
folly  and  transmitted  to  their  offspring  an  inheritance  of  thrift  - 
lessness  and  wretchedness. 

The  object  of  the  present  work  is  to  trace  the  history,  devel- 
opment and  present  conditions  of  these  anthracite  coal  industry. 

In  this  volume  we  treat  the  subject  from  the  economic  stand- 
point, relative  to  the  deposits  of  coal,  the  method  of  working 
them,  the  cost  in  money  and  muscle,  the  wages  and  profits  of 
the  men  engaged  in  the  industry,  the  friction  between  capital 
and  labor,  etc.  The  second  volume,  which  we  hope  to  finish 
in  the  near  future,  will  have  to  do  mainly  with  limited  areas  in 
these  coal  fields,  and  will  be  a  study  of  the  population  of  these 
areas  in  their  component  parts,  the  standard  of  living  of  the 
various  people  inhabiting  these  localities,  the  social  forces  in 
operation  working  for  disintegration  or  conservation,  etc. 

The  aim  of  the  work  is,  to  give  a  true  picture  of  this  imported 
industry  which  secures  a  livelihood  to  about  500,000  persons,  to 
learn  what  are  the  conditions  under  which  they  live,  and  if 
reforms  are  needed,  to  intelligently  and  wisely  suggest  means 
to  that  end.  The  study  is  not  exhaustive  by  any  means.  No 
one  man  could  exhaust  so  vast  a  subject. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE   ANTHRACITE   DEPOSITS. 

1.  THE  NATURE  OF  ANTHBACITE.  2.  THE  AREA  OF  THE  ANTHRACITE 
FIELDS.  3.  THE  VEINS  OF  COAL  AND  THEIR  DEPTH.  4.  THE  TOTAL 
AMOUNT  MINED  AND  YET  TO  BE  MINED.  5.  THE  INFLUENCE  OF 
THE  GEOLOGICAL  STRUCTURE  OF  THE  COAL  FIELDS  UPON  INDUSTRIAL 
CONDITIONS. 

THE   NATURE   OF   ANTHRACITE. 

In  the  Eastern  and  Middle  States,  and  as  far  west  as  Chi- 
cago, few  coal  agents  can  be  found  who  do  not  traffic  in  an- 
thracite. 

The  millions  who  live  in  these  states  know  the  commodity, 
and  owe  much  of  their  comfort  in  life  to  its  inherent  power. 
It  is  easily  distinguished  from  all  other  kinds  of  coal.  Take  a 
piece  and  examine  it,  and  its  characteristics  are  so  pronounced 
that  they  never  need  to  be  mistaken.  It  has  a  rich  black  color 
of  almost  metallic  lustre,  which  is  the  reason  it  has  Tjeen' called 
"black  coal";  it  is  hard  and,  if  let  fall  on  the  pavement,  has 
a  cleaFTtng ;  this  is  why  it  has  been  called  "  stone  coal." 
Throw  it  into  the  fire,  it  will  not  burn  readily,  but  when  it 
ignites,  a  small  blue  flame  arises  giving  off  very  little  smoke ; 
in  the  process  of  combustion,  the  small  flame  disappears,  the 
coal  retains  its  form,  and  as  it  burns,  produces  an  intensely  hot 
fire. 

These  qualities  have  macle  anthracite  coal  the  favorite  do- 
mestic fuel.  This  has  reacted  upon  the  operators  of  anthracite 
coal  mines,  so  that  in  the  last  decade  the  tendency  is  to  prepare 
only  those  sizes  which  supply  domestic  consumption. 

Fifteen  years  ago  20  per  cent,  of  the  production  of  some 
mines  went  to  the  market  as  lump  coal,  now  hardly  3  per  cent. 


4  THE   ANTHKACITE    COAL    INDUSTRY. 

goes  in  that  form.  The  demand  for  domestic  purposes  has 
steadily  increased,  and  if  the  present  tendency  continues,  the 
production  of  the  anthracite  coal  mines  will  be  wholly  con- 
sumed in  the  homes  of  the  people. 

The  nature  of  all  anthracite  is  not  uniform.  It  differs 
slightly,  which  is  due  to  the  proportion  in  which  its  component 
parts  enter  into  combination.  The  above  description  is  of  hard 
dry  anthracite.  There  is  a  kind  known  as  semi-anthracite  or 
soft  anthracite.  This  is-ffound  in  the  Shamokin  and  Wyoming 
districts.  It  is  softer,  and  not  as  lustrous  as  the  harder  coal. 
When  it  is  thrown  on  the  fire,  it  burns  with  a  yellow  flame  re- 
sembling that  of  bituminous  coal,  but  soon  this  ceases  and  the 
anthracite  character  comes  to  the  ascendency.  The  difference 
lies  chiefly  in  the  amount  of  carbon  in  the  coal,  which  is  less  in 
the  softer  land  and  thus  reduces  its  commercial  value  as  a  fuel. 
The  following  two  tables  are  given  by  Dr.  Chance,  State 
Geologist  of  Pennsylvania,  for  the  respective  coals  : 

i~_ ^  »-*•"" 

HARD  DRY  ANTHRACITE.  "X  SEMI-ANTHRACITE. 

Carbon  from 91  per  cent,  to  98  per  cent.  85  per  cent._to.9.Q  percent. 

Hydrogen  from..  0  per  cent,  to  3  per  cent.  Principally  in  combination. 

Water  from £  per  cent,  to  2 £  per  cent.  1 J  per  cent,  to  3  per  cent. 

Ashes  from 1  per  cent,  to  ?  3  per  cent,  to  ? 

Oxygen,  Nitro- 
gen, Hydro- 
carbons, etc. ..  0  per  cent,  to  3  per  cent.  5  per  cent,  to  10  per  cent. 


\ 


Thus  we  have  in  all  kinds  of  anthracite  from  85  per  cent,  to 
98  per  cent,  of  carbon,  from  8  per  cent,  to  1  per  cent,  of  vola- 
~trle  matter,  and  from  7  per  cent,  to  1  per  cent,  of  ashes.  Many 
consumers  of  anthracite  know  their  favorite  kind  by  the  hue  of 
the  ashes  and  so  call  it  "  red  ash,"  "  white  ash,"  etc.  Never- 
theless, the  quality  of  the  coal  does  not  depend  on  the  hue  of 
the  ash  residue,  but  such  is  the  fastidiousness  of  the  consumer, 
that  a  higher  price  is  paid  for  certain  kinds  of  coal  which  yield  a 
particular  kind  of  ash  than  for  any  other. 

The  specific  gravity  of  anthracite  varies  from  1.3  to  1.75 ; 
its  average  weight,  if  hard  and  dry,  is  2,362  pounds  per  cubic 
yard. 


THE    ANTHRACITE    DEPOSITS.  5 

THE    AREA    OF   THE    ANTHRACITE    FIELDS. 

The  area  of  the  anthracite  fields  is  very  limited.  Geologists 
tell  us  that  there  were  once  vast  areas  of  anthracite  coal,  but 
that  the  forces  of  nature  swept  away  all,  save  a  small  fraction 
of  the  deposits,  to  the  sea.  The  present  fields  are  thus  only  a 
sample  of  what  nature  formed  and  then  removed.  Nature  was 
very  prodigal  and  men  imitated  her  when  first  they  opened 
these  veins,  by  inexcusable  and  reckless  waste  in  mining  and 
preparing  coal.  To-day,  however,  their  thrifty  sons  turn  the 
prodigality  of  their  fathers  to  their  profit.  What  was  thrown  to 
the  dump  in  the  early  days  of  mining,  is  now  being  overhauled 
and  sent  to  the  market. 

The  whole  area  comprised  by  the  coal  fields  is  1,700  square    V 
miles.    "The  coal  area,  itself,  occupies  483  square  miles.     The 
total  area  is  divided  into  three  great  divisions,  known  as  the 
Northern,  the  Middle  and  the  Southern  coal  fields. 

The  Northern,  which  is  also  called  the  Wyoming,  contains 
200  square  miles,  or  34  per  cent,  of  all  the  coal  contents.  This 
rich  deposit  is  in  the  form  of  a  crescent  (see  map),  whose  con- 
vex side  is  toward  the  northwest.  It  is  50  miles  long  and 
varies  in  width  from  5J  miles  down  to  diminishing  points 
where  the  coal  seams  end. 

The  extreme  northern  point  of  the  crescent  lies  in  Susque- 
hanna  county,  and  forms  the  economic  basis  of  the  thriving 
town  Forest  City,  which  is  the  only  mining  community  in 
that  county.  The  remainder  of  the  basin  lies  in  Lackawanna 
and  Luzerne  counties.  At  its  northern  point  in  Lackawanna 
county,  it  is  two  miles  wide  and  contains  307  feet  of  coal 
measures.  At  Carbondale,  it  is  more  than  two  miles  wide, 
and  contains  282  feet  of  coal  measures,  with  13  feet  of  coal. 

At  Scranton,  it  is  four  miles  wide,  and  contains  633  feet  of 
coal  measures,  with  67  feet  of  coal.  From  this  point  south,  it 
narrows  down  to  three  miles,  and  then  widens  again,  so  that  at 
Pittston  we  have  four  miles  breadth,  816  feet  of  coal  measures 
and  85  feet  of  coal.  At  Wilkes-Barre,  it  reaches  its  widest 
area  and  is  five  and  a  half  miles  wide,  containing  900  feet  of 
coal  measures  and  16  beds  of  workable  coal.  From  here  it 


6  THE    ANTHRACITE    COAL   INDUSTRY. 

narrows  down  rapidly  so  that  at  Nanticoke,  six  miles  south,  it 
is  three  miles  wide,  and  within  another  six  miles  comes  to  a 
point  at  Hartville. 

The  Middle  field  contains  130  square  miles.  This  is  divided 
into  the  Eastern  or  Upper  Lehigh  and  the  WesterrTor  the 
Schuylkill  region.  In  the  Eastern  section,  we  have  the  Beaver 
Meadow,  the  Hazelton  and  the  Black  Creek  basins  ;  these  run 
parallel  to  each  other  in  a  southwesterly  direction,  and  are 
narrow  and  in  formation  resemble  a  canoe-shaped  trough.  The 
Beaver  Meadow  basin  is  15  miles  long  and  from  one  and  a  half 
to  half  a  mile  wide.  The  Hazelton  basin  is  13  miles  long  and 
the  Black  Creek  about  six  and  a  half  miles  long.  The  Western 
section  contains  six  basins,  divided  into  two  groups  of  three 
each.  To  the  south  lies  the  Mahanoy  group,  extending  from 
Locust  Valley  to  Ashland.  To  the  north  lies  the^Shamokin 
group,  extending  from  the  head  of  the  Catawissa  Valley  to 
Treverton.  The  total  length  of  the  basin  is  40  miles,  and 
where  the  two  groups  overlap  each  other,  it  is  about  four 
miles  wide.  These  deposits  lie  chiefly  in  Luzerne  County,  but 
sections  also  lie  in  TS^tnumberland^JDarJbon,  Schuylkill  and 
Columbia  Counties. 

The  Southern  field  covers  140  square  miles,  and  lies  in  Car- 
hop, Schuylkill  and  Dauphin  Counties.  The  Eastern  extremity 
forms  the  Panther  Creek  basin,  wEicITextends  from  Mt.  Pisgah 
westward  to  the  Little  Schuylkill  River.  The  greatest  width 
of  the  Southern  field  is  at  Pottsville,  where  it  is  about  four  miles 
wide.  The  whole  of  this  basin  is  known  as  the  Pottsville  basin, 
and  is  from  end  to  end  55  miles  long.  Its  southern  extremity 
forms  what  is  known  as  the  "  fish  tail."  The  coal  field,  hav- 
ing traversed  in  a  southwesterly  direction  for  about  33  miles, 
divides  into  two  portions  which  go  under  the  name  of  the  "fish 
tail."  The  northern  portion  forms  the  Bear  Creek  basin,  which 
is  13  miles  long  and  one  and  a  half  miles  wide  and  ending  at 
Wiconisco.  The  southern  part  forms  the  Dauphin  County  basin, 
and  is  22  miles  long  but  more  contracted  than  the  northern 
portion.  In  this  coal  field  lie  the  districts  of  Lykens  Valley, 
Pottsville,  Tamaqua  and  Panther  Creek. 


z  Q, 

a  sd 

Q  o  I  C 


THE   ANTHRACITE   DEPOSITS.  7 

These  veins  of  coal  have  been  laid  in  a  bed  of  conglomerate 
rock,  which  forms  the  flooring  of  the  coal  areas.  This  conglom- 
erate flooring  is  surrounded  by  the  underlying  Mauch  Chunk 
red  shale,  and  from  beneath  this  latter  comes  up  the  outcrop  of 
the  Pocono  sandstone.  The  mountains  enclosing  the  coal  areas 
are  formed  by  these  underlying  beds,  to  which  probably  we  owe 
the  anthracite  fields  we  now  possess,  for  over  them  they  watched 
while  the  disruptive  forces  of  nature  were  at  play,  tearing,  dis- 
placing and  transporting  to  the  mighty  deep,  neighboring  coal 
deposits.  The  mountains  sometimes  rise  to  the  height  of  2,000 
feet,  and  from  their  peaks  a  broad  landscape  view  may  T>e  had 
of  the  largest  streams  which  pass  over  the  coal  fields  or  wind 
their  way  through  neighboring  valleys.  The  mountains  en- 
closing the  coal  areas,  bear  upon  their  contour  traces  of  conflicts 
with  mighty  forces  which  they  could  not  restrain.  These  rock- 
ribbed  sentinels  have  been  pierced  through  here  and  there,  as 
if  unable  to  withstand  the  onslaught  of  accumulating  powers 
from  within  the  enclosed  area. 

In  Sharp  Mountain,  which  encloses  the  Pottsville  basin  on 
the  south,  the  Little  Schuylkill,  the  Schuylkill  and  the  Swatara 
rivers  have  broken  through  in  three  different  places,  forming 
three  gaps. 

At  the  rim  of  the  Mahanoy  basin,  the  point  of  least  resist- 
ance, the  Shamokin  and  Mahanoy  creeks  forced  their  way. 
Over  the  middle  and  southern  portion  of  the  Wyoming  basin, 
the  majestic  Susquehanna  runs,  and  has  made  itself  a  gap  of 
ingress  and  egress  in  the  surrounding  hills.  Over  the  northern 
section  of  this  coal  field,  flows  the  Lackawanna  Kiver,  entering 
in  at  the  northern  extremity  and  at  Pittston  joins  the  Susque- 
hanna. Both  streams  at  this  junction  are  overlooked  by  Camp- 
bell's Ledge,  which  in  solemn  majesty  bears  witness  to  the 
rending,  tearing  and  grinding  effected  by  nature's  forces  level- 
ing elevations  composed  of  softer  stuff. 

But  in  these  coal  fields,  it  is  not  only  the  rocks  above  which 
bear  traces  of  the  conflicts  waged  by  giant  forces  ;  down  deep  in 
the  coal  basins  also,  there  is  clear  evidence  of  the  same.  The 
veins  are  twisted,  irregular,  broken,  faulty  and  sometimes 


8  THE    ANTHRACITE    COAL   INDUSTRY. 

are  thrown  back  upon  themselves,  as  if  the  elements  at  work 
failed  in  their  effort  to  break  them  asunder  and  in  revenge  bent 
them  backward. 

What  singular  suggestions  there  are  in  these  contortions  and 
interruptions.  All  seem  to  testify  that  nature  even  begrudged 
this  fractional  residue  of  the  vast  deposits,  which  once  formed 
part  of  the  Appalachian  range. 

The  basins,  for  the  greater  part,  are  canoe-shaped  troughs. 
The  seams  dip  on  either  side  of  the  trough  to  the  floor  of  the 
basin,  and  in  the  Wyoming  Valley  more  than  anywhere  else  in 
the  coal  fields,  form  a  horizontal  plain.  But  in  the  Northern 
field,  the  seams  are  not  permitted  to  pursue  their  synclinal 
path  without  interruption.  Complications  set  in.  Here  a 
series  of  rolls  result  in  curiously  curved  surfaces  that  dip  at 
various  angles,  and  sometimes  rise  to  a  vertical  position. 
There,  as  the  seam  dips,  an  unexpected  interruption  sets  in, 
sometimes  going  in  a  northerly  or  southerly  direction,  or 
perchance  dies  away  in  a  sharp,  upward  turn.  In  another  place 
the  seam  is  seen  folding  back  on  itself,  or  it  may  be  wholly 
lost  in  a  well-marked  fault,  which  leaves  no  trace  where  you 
may  look  for  its  continuation. 

These  irregularities  are  caused  by  rolls,  which  are  fewer  in 
the  smaller  basins  than  in  the  larger  ones.  The  coal  at  the 
rim  of  these  troughs  rises  to  the  surface ;  from  the  outcrop  to  the 
center  it  dips  at  an  angle  of  from  20  to  60  degrees  ;  as  it  reaches 
the  center  line,  it  flattens  or  it  may  form  a  series  of  undulating 
waves  like  a  petrified  sea-surface.  When  compared  with  the 
size  of  the  basin,  these  waves  are  mere  crumples,  but  oc- 
casionally they  reach  such  magnitude  as  to  divide  the  main 
trough  into  two  distinct  sub-basins.  These  irregularities  have 
put  to  the  test  the  greatest  engineering  skill  of  the  anthracite 
coal  fields,  and  the  feats  performed  by  some  of  these  engineers 
are  worthy  of  record. 

Another  result  of  these  structural  peculiarities  is,  that  they 
have  brought  into  the  mining  industry  a  great  aleatory  element, 
which  has  ruined  many  an  operator  while  carrying  others  on  a 
wave  of  success  to  fortune. 


SECTIONS  OF  MAMMOTH  VEIN 


FROM  SHENANDOAH 

COLLIERY. 
EEFUSE.  COAL 


SECTION  OF  COAL  MEASURE 

AT  OLYPHANT  FROM  DEL. 

&  HUD.  BORING. 


Olyphant  No .  1 


Olyphant  No. 
Bed. 


Diamond  Bed. 


11'  8' 


Glassy  Island 
Bed. 


13'  2' 


1'  2 


FROM  COLORADO 

COLLIERY. 
REFUSE.  COAI 


Four  Foot  Bed. 


ark  Bed. 


Dunmore  Bed. 


SCALE  l"  = 


From  Dr.  Chance:  "  Coal  Mining.' 


Dunmore  Bed. 


SCALE  100' 


THE   ANTHRACITE    DEPOSITS.  9 

THE   VEINS    OF    COAL    AND    THEIR   DEPTH. 

The  coal  measures,  or  carboniferous  formations,  consist  of  a 
succession  of  hard  sandstone  and  black  or  bluish  slate  and  shales 
more  or  less  evenly  distributed.  They  are  not  uniformly  laid 
and  are  not  to  be  found  in  the  same  horizon  of  the  coal  measures 
throughout  the  anthracite  coal  fields.  As  a  general  rule,  how- 
ever, it  may  be  said,  that  the  upper  part  of  the  coal  measures 
consists  of  softer  rocks  than  the  lower  sections,  although  the 
various  rocks  may  be  found  at  any  horizon. 

The  £oal  measures  vary  from  100  feet  to  3,300  feet  in  thick- 
ness**,. With  the  variety  in  their  thickness,  the  number  and  rich- 
ness of  the  veins  vary.  At  Tamaqua,  the  carboniferous  forma- 
tions are  2,300  feet  thick  and  contain  21  coal  beds  with  an 
aggregate  thickness  of  126  feet  of  coal.  A  short  distance  from 
Tamaqua,  one  bed  of  the  Mammoth  vein  is  114  feet  thick.  At 
Pottsville  there  are  about  3,300  feet  of  coal  measures,  with  28 
individual  beds  with  an  aggregate  thickness  of  154  feet  of  coal. 
In  the  eastern  half  of  the  Western  Middle  field  there  are  13 
individual  beds  with  110  feet  of  coal,  and  at  Shenandoah,  the 
Mammoth  vein  reaches  a  thickness  of  100  feet.  This  same 
vein  in  Black  Creek  in  the  Upper  Lehigh  region  is  between  60 
and  90  feet  thick.  In  the  Northern  field  in  the  neighborhood 
of  Scranton,  the  beds  aggregate  a  thickness  of  72  feet,  while 
in  the  vicinity  of  Wilkesbarre,  there  are  13  beds  of  coal  having 
a  total  thickness  of  94  feet.  These  estimates  of  the  thickness 
of  the  coal  are  not  to  be  taken  as  the  amount  of  coal  that  can 
be  marketed,  because  they  contain  impurities  such  as  slate  and 
bony  coal. 

The  veins  vary  greatly  in  richness,  freedom  from  faults  and 
lay  either  favorable  or  unfavorable  to  mining  operations.  Some 
of  them  are  only  a  few  inches  thick,  while  others  are  several 
yards.  In  some  sections,  the  vein  dips  at  an  angle  of  80  de- 
grees, while  in  another  part  it  is  horizontal.  Irregularities 
are  frequent. 

In  some  places  the  roof  or  floor  cuts  into  the  bed,  forming 
what  the  miners  call  a  "  horse. "  In  another  place,  the  roof 
and  floor  come  together  forming  what  is  known  as  a  "  pinch " 


10  THE   ANTHRACITE   COAL   INDUSTRY. 

or  a  "  squeeze."  Sometimes  the  vein  grows  thin  and  its  place 
is  partially  or  entirely  taken  up  by  slate,  fire-clay  or  sandstone. 
At  other  places  a  fault  sharply  cuts  off  a  coal  seam,  leaving  a 
clean  surface  and  giving  no  indication  of  the  probable  direction 
into  which  the  other  part  has  been  moved.  The  miners  in 
some  parts  find  the  seam  twisted  downwards  or  upwards,  or  it 
may  end  in  "  crushed  coal,"  which  is  a  soft  carbonaceous  shale 
with  more  or  less  coal  running  through  the  mass,  but  which  is 
not  marketable  and  goes  to  the  culm  dump.  When  these 
irregularities  are  frequent,  they  entail  great  loss  upon  the 
operators,  and  great  inconvenience  upon  the  miners.  The  lay 
of  the  veins,  as  well  as  the  richness  of  the  deposits,  enters  into 
the  calculation  when  the  price  of  an  area  of  coal  land  is  com- 
puted. An  acre  of  coal  land  in  the  Wyoming  Valley  may  not 
contain  more  marketable  coal  than  an  acre  in  the  Southern 
coal  field,  but  its  market  value  may  be  double,  because  of  the 
more  favorable  lay  of  the  coal  beds,  which  facilitates  opera- 
tions. 

The  impurities  in  the  strata  also  make  a  vast  difference  in 
the  value  of  coal  land.  In  some  veins  bony  coal — a  commix- 
ture of  coal  and  black  slate — appears  in  large  proportions  and 
entails  much  trouble  and  expense  in  cleaning.  Then  bands  of 
slate  and  sulphur  make  their  appearance,  which  cause  great 
trouble  to  the  miner,  and  increase  his  outlay  for  supplies,  while 
the  operator  is  affected  in  finding  his  production  less  market- 
able. 

The  shafts  sunk  to  work  some  of  these  veins  vary  in  depth 
from  200  to  2,000  feet.  The  average  depth  is  about  400  feet. 
Many  sections  of  these  veins  were  above  water  level,  which 
were  operated  by  individual  companies  in  the  early  days  of 
anthracite  mining.  Most  of  these  small  concerns  exercised 
little  judgment  or  science.  They  were  eager  for  coal  and  pro- 
duced it  at  the  least  possible  cost,  so  that  their  unscientific  and 
wasteful  methods  ruined  some  of  the  best  and  thickest  layers 
lying  above  water  level. 

The  accompanying  sketch  of  borings  in  Lackawanna  and 
Schuylkill  counties  shows  the  various  coal  strata,  The  cross 


O) 


O  00 


O  O  CM 
o  or  LO 


RODUCTION  OF  1899 

4,034,224  TONS 

Id    .0 

z 


<  <o 

S*' 


THE   ANTHRACITE   DEPOSITS.  11 

sections  of  various  parts  of  the  coal  fields  show  the  great 
variety  in  the  geological  lay  of  the  strata.  A  map  of  the  coal 
fields  is  also  given. 

THE   TOTAL   AMOUNT   MINED    AND    YET   TO   BE   MINED. 

The  amount  of  coal  in  these  fields  has  been  computed  by 
various  engineers,  whose  result,  taking  into  consideration  the 
extent  of  territory  and  the  number -and  variety  of  the  seams, 
does  not  vary  greatly.  Joseph  S.  Harris  in  the  Forum,  Vol. 
13,  page  193,  computed  the  contents  of  the  fields  as  14,453- 
397,600  cubic  yards,  and  taking  a  yard  as  equal  to  2,240  Ibs., 
the  contents  would  be  that  number  of  tons.  The  total  amount 
mined  up  to  December,  1891,  was  844,019,239  tons,  which 
would  mean  three  times  that  amount  of  displacement,  or  2,532,- 
000,000  tons.  Subtracting  this  from  the  above  total  contents, 
he  estimated  that  there  were  11,921,400,000  tons  or  82  per 
cent,  of  the  original  contents  to  be  mined.  Since  that  date 
430,832,297  tons  have  been  mined  or  a  displacement  of  1,292,- 
497,191  tons,  which  left  at  the  commencement  of  this  year 
10,638,902,809  tons  yet  to  be  mined.  Mr.  Harris  expressed 
the  hope  that  improved  methods  in  mining  and  more  thorough 
use  of  the  coal,  would  make  available  half  of  the  contents  of 
the  beds  still  to  be  mined  or  5,329,451,404  tons.  If  produc- 
tion rises  to  60,000,000  tons  annually,  he  estimated,  in  1892, 
that  the  supply  would  last  about  100  years. 

A.  D.  W.  Smith,  in  the  coal  waste  commission  report,  pub- 
lished in  May,  1893,  estimated  the  amount  of  coal  yet  to  be 
mined  and  marketed  at  6,898,000,000  tons.  Since  that  date 
385,832,297  tons  have  been  mined  which  leaves  6,512,167,703 
yet  to  be  mined. 

William  Griffiths,  mining  engineer,  gave  an  estimate  of  the 
coal  yet  to  be  mined  in  the  "Bond  Record"  for  1896.  His 
calculation  gave  5,073,786,000  tons  as  yet  to  be  mined.  Since 
that  date  241,101,082  tons  have  been  mined,  leaving  4,832,- 
685,668  yet  to  be  mined.  If  we  estimate  the  annual  production 
at  60,000,000  tons,  the  figures  given  by  these  gentlemen  give 
us  the  following  forecast  of  the  continuation  of  these  coal  fields. 


12  THE    ANTHRACITE    COAL    INDUSTRY. 

ESTIMATED  BY.  TONS  YET  TO  BE  MINED.  YEARS  DURATION. 

Josephs.  Harris 5,329,451,404  88.82 

A.  D.  W.  Smith 6,512,167,703  108.53 

Wm.  Griffiths 4,832,685,668  80.54 

The  total  number  of  tons  mined  from  1820-1900,  inclusive, 
is  1,197,706,181.  If  we  take  Mr.  Griffith's  estimate  of  the 
tons  to  be  mined,  we  have  about  four  times  as  much  still  in  the 
beds  as  has  been  taken  out.  The  accompanying  squares  show 
the  proportion. 

THE   INFLUENCE   OF   THE   GEOLOGICAL   STRUCTURE    OF 
THE    COAL   FIELDS   UPON   INDUSTRIAL   CON- 
DITIONS. 

The  foregoing  description  of  the  geological  structure  of  the 
anthracite  coal  fields  will  enable  us  to  answer  the  question, 
What  effect  have  these  natural  facts  upon  the  industrial  condi- 
tions and  relations  which  arise  in  the  process  of  developing 
these  coal  deposits  ? 

First. — These  rich  deposits  of  coal  have  raised  the  question 
as  to  the  moral  right  of  individuals  to  them.  Many  men  of 
intelligence  believe  individual  possession  is  wrong,  their  con- 
victions and  reasoning  being  as  follows  : 

The  coal  seams  are  the  free  gift  of  nature  to  man.  It  is 
stored-up  wealth,  designed  by  Providence  for  the  good  of 
human  society  as  a  whole,  and  not  for  the  enrichment  of  the 
few.  Individual  ownership  is  contrary  to  this  design,  and 
must  inevitably  lead  to  disorder  and  injustice.  This  is  clearly 
seen  in  the  fact  that  it  leads  to  monopoly.  If  one  man  has  a 
right  to  hold  a  part  of  the  coal  fields  as  his  private  possession, 
he  has  an  equal  right  to  own  all  of  them,  and  in  that  case  the 
consumers  of  anthracite  would  be  wholly  dependent  on  his 
good  will  for  one  of  the  essentials  of  our  modern  civilization. 

During  the  last  strike,  men  lived  over  rich  deposits  of  coal, 
and  yet  they  could  not  touch  this  free  gift  of  nature  which  was 
needed  in  their  homes,  except  by  making  themselves  amenable 
to  law.  The  anthracite  coal  fields  are  rapidly  passing  into  the 
hands  of  a  syndicate,  and  the  140,000  employes  of  this  industry 


THE   ANTHRACITE   DEPOSITS.  13 

will  be  at  the  mercy  of  a  board  of  directors  sitting  in  a  city 
far  away  from  the  coal  fields,  who  decide  the  amount  of  bread 
they  and  their  families  may  secure.  This  condition  is,  according 
to  the  conviction  of  men  favoring  collective  ownership,  wrong, 
and  it  logically  follows  from  individual  ownership. 

The  sentiment  underlying  these  ideas  is  praiseworthy ;  it  is 
sympathy  with  the  needs  of  the  many  and  anxiety  to  see  their 
condition  ameliorated.  But  generous  and  sympathetic  senti- 
ments are  not  adequate  guides  in  the  adjustment  of  the  rela- 
tions of  life ;  we  need  intellect  also,  and  when  the  question 
raised  by  these  men  is  reduced  to  a  practical  test,  difficulties 
arise  which  gushing  sympathetic  sentiment  never  dreamt  of. 

The  Northern  coal  field  was,  in  the  eighteenth  century,  bought 
of  the  Indians  for  a  sum  that  would  not  buy  a  single  lot  to-day 
on  one  of  the  business  sites  in  the  city  of  Scranton. 

Was  the  transaction  right  or  wrong  ?  If  wrong,  then  we  all 
must  vacate  and  the  redmen  be  reinstated,  a  conclusion,  we  pre- 
sume, the  authors  of  the  above  sentiments  would  repudiate. 
If  right,  then  the  moral  and  legal  validity  of  business  trans- 
actions, that  is,  of  contract,  is  acknowledged,  which  is  the  basis 
of  individual  ownership. 

Take  again  the  present  condition  of  the  industry.  An  esti- 
mation of  the  capital  represented  in  capital  goods,  railroads,  coal 
lands,  etc.,  would  amount  to  hundreds  of  millions  of  dollars ; 
and  all  this  is  property  resting  exactly  on  the  same  basis  as  the 
house  owned  by  the  miner  rests  on.  The  New  York  Syndicate 
bought  out  the  anthracite  coal  interests  of  the  Pennsylvania  Coal 
Company  lately,  together  with  some  70  miles  of  railroad,  for 
the  sum  of  $30,000,000.  The  Syndicate  has  the  same  right  to 
this  property  as  the  miner  has  to  the  lot  for  which  he  paid  $300. 

Suppose  we  proceed  to  convert  these  coal  fields  from  individual 
ownership  to  State  ownership,  how  would  we  proceed  ?  We 
would  have  to  re-imburse  the  men  who  have  put  money  into 
this  industry,  which  proposal  would  be  hailed  with  delight  by 
the  major  part  of  them,  for  they  claim  the  returns  they  realize 
on  mining  operations  are  very  meagre.  But  the  other  party  to 
the  contract — the  State — would  be  burdened  with  an  indebted- 


14        /  THE   ANTHRACITE   COAL   INDUSTRY. 

ness,  the  interest  on  which  would  have  to  come  in  part  from 
the  taxpayers.  That,  we  would  resent,  and  most  assuredly 
the  citizens  of  Pennsylvania,  not  engaged  in  mining,  would 
resent  it. 

But,  further,  let  us  suppose  we  have  got  over  the  two  pre- 
vious difficulties,  and  the  mines  are  in  the  hands  of  the  State ; 
we  have  collective  ownership  ;  we  must  get  somebody  to  control 
the  collieries  ;  to  whom  shall  we  delegate  that  power  ?  We  now 
put  our  affairs  into  the  hands  of  town  councils,  county  officers 
and  state  officials,  and  the  control  of  the  mines  would  necessarily 
fall  into  the  hands  of  the  same.  That  means,  that  the  poli- 
ticians would  run  the  mines.  The  intelligent  and  thrifty  citi- 
zens of  the  anthracite  coal  fields  are  far  from  having  enough 
confidence  in  the  politicians  to  delegate  such  power  to  them. 
One  of  the  most  serious  blots  on  the  escutcheon  of  the  Keystone 
State  is  the  record  of  some  of  its  brightest  sons  in  political 
affairs  ;  enlarge  the  sphere  of  their  operation,  and  the  corruption 
that  has  made  our  State  a  by-word  in  the  land  will  increase 
in  greater  proportion. 

We  all  agree  that  individual  ownership  has  its  abuses  and 
inflicts  wrongs  on  others,  but  to  commit  the  basis  of  livelihood 
of  half  a  million  of  people  to  a  class  of  men  who  generally  seek 
their  own  interests,  and  often  betray  the  interests  of  the  people, 
is  fraught  with  far  greater  dangers  to  the  interests  of  the  labor- 
ing classes.  "  So  long  as  the  administration  is,  to  any  consid- 
erable degree,  swayed  by  partisan  considerations  instead  of 
industrial  ones,  every  extension  of  government  activity  to  new 
fields  must  be  regarded  with  grave  apprehension."  (Hadley's 
Economics,  page  403.) 

Second. — Nature,  by  massing  together  this  treasure  house  of 
power  into  so  small  a  section,  and  making  all  possible  compe- 
tition from  other  regions  impossible  by  denying  to  them  anthra- 
cite fuel,  can  truly  be  said  to  have  invited  monopolistic  control 
of  its  gift.  Men  have  not  been  reluctant  to  act  upon  the  sug- 
gestion, and  for  the  last  half  a  century  this  has  been  the  dream 
of  ambitious  coal  operators,  but  up  to  the  present  century  fac- 
tional interests,  competition  and  jealousies  have  defeated  every 


THE   ANTHRACITE   DEPOSITS.  15 

scheme  of  that  nature.  Financiers  on  the  threshold  of  the  new 
century,  still  grapple  with  the  problem,  and  as  increased  capi- 
talization, and  increased  cost  of  production  reduce  the  rate  of 
profits  and  drive  out  the  individual  operators,  the  dreams  of  the 
past  seem  as  if  they  were  about  to  be  realized. 

The  anthracite  coal  fields  are  destined  to  be  controlled  by  a 
monopoly.  All  natural  advantages  favor  centralization  of 
capital,  and  the  fact  that  anthracite  coal  land  is  annually  in- 
creasing in  value,  and  offers  an  investment  that  is  yet  to  last 
for  over  a  century,  is  inducement  enough  to  the  financial 
princes  of  the  land  to  lay  hold  of  this  opportunity.  Monopo- 
listic control  has  its  good  and  bad  features.  Competiti6n4ias 
been  the  rtim  of  scores  of  operators  in  the  anthracite  coal 
fields  ;  that  source  of  danger  will  be  eliminated  by  a  syndicate. 

Employes,  under  wise  monopolistic  control,  share  in  the  in- 
creased profits  of  operators,  and  for  this  reason,  workingmen 
often  do  not  object  to  a  monopoly.  If  the  Miner's  Union  and 
the  Coal  Syndicate  can  agree  in  their  common  interests  as  against 
the  public,  there  is  no  reason  why  there  cannot  be  a  long  season 
of  industrial  prosperity  in  the  anthracite  coal  fields.  Produc- 
tion will  soon  reach  its  maximum.  The  problem  of  surplus 
labor  will  then  be  partly  solved,  for  the  mines  will  not  be  able 
to  produce  more  than  the  market  demands,  a  condition  which 
will  give  all  shafts  and  all  employes  nearly  full  time.  Self- 
interest  should  unite  both  capital  and  labor  in  the  anthracite 
coal  fields,  and  it  can  be  done  if  practical  reason  on  both  sides 
shall  control. 

The  monopoly,  as  related  to  the  public,  stands  in  a  different 
light.  It  must  count  upon  the  opposition  of  public  sentiment. 

Former  attempts  at  monopolistic  control  have  been  met  with 
public  indignation  and  legislative  interference.  Both  the  states 
of  New  York  and  Pennsylvania  have  on  several  occasions 
moved  against  real  or  imagined  monopolistic  control.  Legal 
talent  may  be  able  to  circumvent  and  defeat  attempts  to  disrupt 
monopolistic  schemes,  but  if  public  sentiment  does  not  change 
from  its  present  temper,  an  anthracite  syndicate  may  count  on 
antagonistic  movements  on  the  part  of  legislatures. 


j$ 

16  THE   ANTHRACITE   COAL   INDUSTRY. 

Third.  —  The  Contortions,  irregularities,  flexures  and  im- 
purities in  the  veins  of  anthracite  make  it  impossible  to  adjust 
wages  on  a  uniform  basis  throughout  the  anthracite  coal  fields. 
Bituminous  coal  miners  meet  their  employers  every  year,  and  a 
uniform  basis  is  laid  down  for  vast  areas  of  coal  fields,  and  the 
agreement  works  satisfactorily  to  both  employer  and  employe. 

This  cannot  be  done  in  the  anthracite  coal  fields,  and  the  dif- 
ficulty lies  in  the  geological  structure  of  the  coal  deposits. 
Conditions  of  workings  constantly  change,  and  with  the  changes 
readjustments  of  wages  must  be  made.  This  is  left  to  ..the 
judgment  of  the  foreman  in  charge,  whose  duty  it  is  to  do 
justice  by  the  workman.  Experienced  men,  who  have  spent 
their  HlePtime  in  the  anthracite  mines,  positively  affirm  that  a 
standard  price  for  mining  in  these  coal  fields  will  never  be 
practicable.  In  the  case  of  men  working  by  contract,  nothing 
more  than  general  rules  can  be  laid  down.  Each  shaft  has  its 
peculiarities,  and  never  will  it  be  possible  to  operate  these  mines 
without  entrusting  large  powers  of  discretion,  as  to  the  adjust- 
ment of  prices,  to  the  foreman  in  charge.  The  ^onjy  possible 
sphere  of  action  for  the  union  is  local.  Each  shaft  may  have 
its  local  assemblyy-which  4Hay  by  a  committee,  try  to  secure  its 
members  reasonable  remuneration.  This  is  being  done,  and  it 
is  the  only  extent  to  which  the  efforts  at  adjusting  contract 
prices  can  go. 


CHAPTER  II. 

DEVELOPING  THE   COAL  BEDS. 

1.  EARLY  DAYS  OF  MINING.  2.  METHODS  OF  MINING  ;  a.  SURFACE  MIN- 
ING ;  &.  SLOPE  MINING  ;  c.  SHAFT  MINING.  3.  COST  OF  MAINTAIN- 
ING THE  OPENINGS  MADE.  4.  INCREASE  OF  MONEY  AND  MUSCLE, 
DECREASE  OF  PROFITS  AND  WAGES. 


The  accompanying  section,  showing  the  outcrops  of  coal 
beds,  makes  clear  the  possibility  of  taking  coal  from  a  seam  at 
a  very  small  cost.  In  mining,  as  in  all  other  industries,  men 
first  develop  that  which  promises  greatest  returns  for  a  given 
amount  of  exertion.  In  the  earliest  days  of  anthracite  mining, 
operators  worked  at  the  outcrops.  They  were  individuals  with 
little  capital,  and  were  dependent  on  quick  returns  to  carry  on 
their  operations.  Most  of  them  had  no  machinery  ;  no  hoist- 
ing engine ;  no  pumping  apparatus ;  all  their  capital  goods 
consisted  in  a  few  cars,  some  wooden  rails,  and  the  few  imple- 
ments needed  for  mining  coal.  Besides  their  own  muscle,  the 
mule  or  horse  furnished  all  the  power  at  their  command.  Many 
of  these  men  knew  next  to  nothing  of  the  science  of  mining. 
They  knew  the  value  of  coal ;  they  possessed  some  general 
idea  how  to  open  a  seam  and  work  it  with  comparative  safety 
to  life  and  limb ;  but  in  their  operations,  the  effort  to  get  the 
water  out  without  the  necessity  of  pumping  it  directed  the 
course  of  their  openings. 

These  pioneer  coal  operators  worked  by  tunnel  or  stripping 
the  richest  outcrops,  and  disregarding  both  science  and  the  claims 
of  subsequent  generations,  they  ruined  many  of  these  valuable 
beds  and  left  them  a  source  of  constant  peril  to  present  operators. 
No  maps  were  kept  of  their  workings,  and  being  abandoned 
when  the  cost  of  production  passed  the  margin  of  profitable 
2  17 


18  THE    ANTHRACITE   COAL   INDUSTRY. 

expenditure  by  the  crude  methods  of  operation  then  practiced, 
these  old  mines  filled  with  water  and  deadly  gases,  and  are 
dangerous  to  the  miners  of  to-day,  who,  unawares,  break  into 
them. 

With  increased  capital,  increased  skill  also  was  required.  As 
the  openings  became  deeper,  machinery  was  needed  to  hoist  the 
coal.  Scientific  methods  were  adopted,  for  men  would  not 
invest  thousands  of  dollars  in  opening  coal  beds,  and  run  the 
risk  of  forfeiting  all  by  unscientific  methods  of  operation.  A 
writer  in  the  North  American  Review  in  the  year  1837  (Vol. 
42,  p.  241)  speaks  of  the  methods  pursued  up  to  1836  in  anthra- 
cite mining.  The  miners  worked  the  veins  by  tunneling  from 
water-level  upward,  but  this  system  was  then  rapidly  being  ex- 
hausted and  resort  was  being  made  to  sinking  shafts.  "  Ex- 
periments are  now  in  train,"  he  says,  "  for  pursuing  the  veins  in 
the  opposite  direction,  downwards,  by  sinking  shafts  below  the 
water-level,  and  clearing  out  the  water  through  the  agency  of 
steam  pumps  as  in  England." 

As  the  mines  got  deeper,  greater  capital  was  needed  to  develop 
them.  The  individual  operator  was  replaced  by  capital  stock 
companies,  and  soon  the  small  mining  plants  were  superseded 
by  collieries  that  would  produce  five  or  ten  times  the  quantity 
of  coal.  The  same  writer  did  not  see  this  tendency,  for  he 
speaks  of  the  Schuylkill  region  as  follows  :  "  The  Schuylkill 
region  seems  to  have  been  marked  by  nature  for  individual 
enterprise,  and  the  State  was  careful  to  keep  this  in  view,  in 
the  incorporation  of  the  Schuylkill  Navigation  Company,  on 
whose  canal  the  coal  is  conveyed  to  Philadelphia  for  distribu- 
tion along  the  Atlantic."  (Vol.  42,  p.  248.)  This  region 
to-day  is  in  the  hands  of  large  corporations,  and  the  Reading 
Railroad  swallowed  up  the  beneficent  canal. 

The  change  may  be  seen  by  glancing  at  some  of  the  old 
statistics.  The  Schuylkill  region  jls  practically  in  the  hands  of 
the  Reading  Coal  &  Iron  Company  at  present,  but  in  1848  there 
Were  here  120  operators,  working  111  places  above  and  50 
below  water-level.  In  1847  there  were  116  operators.  In 
welmcTtfiere  86  operators,  who  had  invested  $2,606*000  in 


DEVELOPING   THE   COAL   BEDS.  19 

the  Schuylkill  region.  In  1 870,  75  per  cent,  of  all  the  collieries 
in  this  district  had  passed  Into  the  hands  of  the  Reading  Rail- 
road. The  same  process  went  on  elsewhere  in  these  coal  fields. 
The  transition  was  not  effected  wholly  by  the  increased  cost  of 
production — strikes  and  competition  were  also  at  work — but 
the  exhaustion  of  the  seams  above  water-level,  was  a  prime 
cause  in  the  superseding  of  the  individual  operator  by  the 
stock  company.  The  individuals  lacked  capital  to  carry  on  the 
work,  and  a  once  flourishing  mining  camp  fell  into  decay  and 
desolation,  for  lack  of  capital  to  develop  the  rich  veins  of  coal 
buried  beneath.  Paul  de  Rosiers  has  told  the  story  of  Silver 
Creek,  and  the  same  may  be  duplicated  in  many  localities  in 
the  Hazelton  and  Schuylkill  regions.  A  patch  of  half-ruined 
houses,  a  dilapidated  school-building,  a  church  structure  decay- 
ing, yawning  chasms  whose  wide  mouths  the  brush  tries  to 
hide ;  these  are  the  marks  of  towns  that  flourished  back  in  the 
forties  and  fifties,  but  were  abandoned  for  the  lack  of  capital  to 
develop  the  descending  seams. 

The  same  process  has  gone  on  during  the  last  30  years.  The 
stock  companies  followed  exactly  the  same  policy  as  the  indi- 
vidual operators  did,  namely,  working  the  most  profitable  veins. 
They  did  it  scientifically,  however.  But  the  necessary  result 
is  that  the  richest  veins  are  exhausted,  and  resort  must  now  be 
had  to  poorer  ones.  The  General  Mine  Inspector  of  Pennsyl- 
vania says  in  his  last  (1899)  report:  "  In  the  last  ten  years, 
1889-1899,  a  large  percentage  of  the  coal  has  been  mined  from 
thin  veins  varying  from  two  to  four  feet  in  thickness"  (p. 
11,  Report  Bur.  of  Mines  1899).  In  the  Middle  and  Southern 
fields,  the  Mammoth  vein,  that  averaged  forty  feet  of  coal,  is 
nearly  exhausted.  In  the  Northern  coal  field  80  per  cent, 
of  the  best  veins  is  worked.  This  necessitates  greater  outlay  of 
capital,  and,  consequently,  diminished  returns.  Coal,  in  the 
deeper  veins,  is  not  as  clean  and  is  harder  to  dislodge.  This 
means  more  unfavorable  conditions  for  both  operator  and 
miner,  and  with  increased  expenditure  in  money  and  muscle, 
distrust  and  misunderstandings  come  in,  which  are  occasions  of 
friction  between  employer  and  employe. 


20  THE   ANTHRACITE   COAL   INDUSTRY. 

METHODS   OF   DEVELOPING    COAL   BEDS. 

There  are  three  methods  now  in  use  in  mining  coal.  One  is 
the  "  stripping  "  and  is  seen  in  its  most  extensive  forms  in  the 
Hazelton  region.  The  second  is  the  slope,  which  may  be  seen 
in  the  Northern  field,  but  is  far  more  frequent  in  the  Middle 
and  Southern,  where  the  coal  seams  dip  more  than  in  the 
Wyoming  coal  field.  The  third  is  the  shaft,  which  is  the  pre- 
vailing method  of  mining  coal. 

STRIPPING   MINING. 

This  method,  as  its  name  implies,  consists  in  stripping  off 
the  material  overlaying  the  coal,  and  then  mining  it  in  the  full 
glare  of  the  sun.  This  method  is  extensively  employed  in  the 
Hazelton  district,  where  the  visitor  can  see  the  hand  of  man, 
not  leveling  the  rough  places  of  earth,  but  rather,  scoop- 
ing out  deep  trenches,  some  of  them  over  100  feet  below  the 
surface  and  from  20  to  50  yards  wide.  A  drive  around  York- 
town,  Audenreid,  Honeybrook,  and  M'Adoo,  shows  to  what 
extent  these  excavations  have  been  and  are  still  carried  out. 
Everywhere  deep  cuttings  transforming  a  naturally  rugged  and 
barren  mountain  to  a  still  more  desolate  region.  The  ragged 
edges  of  these  excavations  are  sometimes  studded  with  open 
mouths  as  dark  caverns  buried  in  gloom,  over  which  hang  huge 
rocks :  these  openings  are  "  breasts "  that  were  worked  by 
miners  from  the  slope  or  shaft,  and  abandoned  when  they  came 
within  a  few  yards  of  the  surface. 

The  stripping  has  the  right  of  way  :  houses,  churches,  schools, 
which  stand  in  its  path,  are  removed,  so  that  the  complexion  of  a 
small  town  may  be  wholly  changed  by  these  operations  in  a  few 
years.  The  coal  lies  in  the  form  of  a  canoe,  and  the  stripping 
follows  the  same  shape.  When  one  considers  the  extent  of 
these  excavating  operations,  it  is  surprising  that  so  much  debris 
can  be  removed  and  still  make  the  mining  of  the  coal  by  this 
method  profitable.  All  operators  in  the  fifth  district  do  more 
or  less  of  this  kind  of  mining  to-day. 

The  surface  is  removed  by  steam  shovels,  called  by  the 
miners,  "  the  American  Devil."  Some  companies  operate  seven 


DEVELOPING   THE   COAL   BEDS.  21 

of  these  machines.  One  of  them  weighs  about  forty-seven  tons  : 
it  rests  on  blocks  while  in  operation,  but  beneath  it  are  wheels 
and  a  track  upon  which,  by  the  use  of  jacks,  it  can  be  placed, 
when  it  is  necessary  to  move  it. 

Three  men  operate  it :  the  engineer  who  swings  the  crane 
and  hoists  the  shovel ;  the  craneman  who  directs  the  shovel  and 
empties  the  contents  into  the  car;  and  the  fireman.  Beside 
these,  there  is  a  force  of  twenty-five  men,  who  are  employed  in 
drilling,  driving,  dumping,  etc.  The  shovel  will  make  a  cut  of 
from  eighteen  to  twenty-five  feet  wide  and  about  ten  feet  deep. 
If  the  surface  contains  hard  rock,  it  is  blasted  by  dynamite  and 
powder.  This  steam  shovel  will  remove  from  3,000  to  18,000 
cubic  yards  a  month.  When  this  method  of  mining  was  intro- 
duced by  Pardee  &  Co.,  in  1874  at  Hollywood,  it  cost  from  15 
cents  to  25  cents  a  cubic  yard  to  clear  the  stuff;  to-day  it  is 
done  for  from  13  cents  to  25  cents  a  cubic  yard.  If  rock  is 
removed  the  cost  may  rise  to  35  cents  a  cubic  yard.  This 
method  of  mining  continued  at  Hollywood  from  1874  to  1899. 
Operations  covered  40  acres,  and  de"bris,  to  the  depth  of  45  feet, 
was  removed,  amounting  in  all  to  2,259,110  cubic  yards.  In 
this  way  98.32  per  cent,  of  the  original  contents  of  coal  in 
the  basin  was  secured. 

The  advantage  of  this  method  of  mining  is  that  all  the  coal 
can  be  removed,  while  in  slopes  and  shafts  from  20  to  50  per 
cent,  must  be  left  as  pillars.  For  this  reason,  land  owners  lease 
strippings  for  lower  royalties  than  they  get  from  slopes  and  shafts. 

The  force  employed  in  mining  coal  in  strippings,  varies  from 
six  to  forty-four  men.  They  are  all  hired  by  the  day.  A  fore- 
man is  in  charge,  whose  duty  it  is  to  stand  guard  on  the  edge 
of  the  cutting,  overlooking  the  force  at  work,  and  when  blast- 
ing takes  place,  to  warn  the  passers-by.  The  foreman  generally 
is  an  Anglo-Saxon,  but  the  force  mining  is  Italian  or  Hungarian 
to  a  man.  Common  laborers  are  paid  $1.10  a  day,  and  load 
six  cars  for  a  "  shift."  The  miner  gets  $1.50  a  day  ;  he  bores 
the  holes  and  dislodges  the  coal.  All  supplies,  such  as  powder, 
dynamite,  squibs,  etc.,  are  furnished  by  the  company. 

The  men  in  the  stripping  work  nearly  full  time,  so  that  miners 


22  THE   ANTHRACITE    COAL   INDUSTRY. 

employed  therein,  during  the  year,  average  more  in  wages  than 
many  English-speaking  miners  employed  in  shafts  and  slopes. 
In  some  of  these  strippings,  coal  is  produced  very  cheaply.  It 
is  estimated  that  it  is  mined  at  50  per  cent,  less  than  by  sinking 
a  shaft ;  but  this  depends  on  the  amount  of  debris  to  be  re- 
moved. 

SLOPE   MINING. 

A  slope  is  an  inclined  plane  driven  from  the  surface  down  to 
or  through  the  coal  beds.  It  varies  in  dimensions.  If  it  is 
intended  for  a  single  track,  12  feet  wide  by  7  feet  high  will 
suffice  ;  if  a  double  track  is  needed,  then  it  must  be  about  22  by 

7  feet.     If  sloping  carriages  must  be  used,  so  that  the  coal  will 
not  fall  out,  then  greater  height  is  needed. 

As  we  enter  the  slope,  the  timber  attracts  attention.  If  the 
operators  are  strong  capitalists,  it  is  square,  of  excellent  quality 
and  put  up  by  men  of  high  mechanical  skill.  If  they  touch 
or,  as  the  miners  say,  are  put  "  skin  to  skin,"  it  proves  that  the 
top  is  liable  to  run ;  generally,  however,  they  stand  from  6  to 

8  feet  apart.     The  size  of  this  timber  varies  from  15  to  20 
inches  in  diameter,  and  is  calculated  to  reach  a  good  old  age. 
When  the  slope  passes  through  hard  rock  no  timber  is  needed. 

The  cost  of  driving  a  slope  depends  on  its  dimensions,  the 
quality  of  the  strata  through  which  it  passes,  and  the  amount 
of  timbering  needed.  These  items  vary  the  price  from  $25  to 
$50  a  lineal  yard.  If  the  slope  follows  a  coal  seam,  the  coal 
produced  pays  for  the  working ;  if  it  passes  through  soil  and 
strata,  operators  call  it  "  dead  work,"  which  is  an  item  of  ex- 
penditure without  direct  returns. 

In  the  Northern  coal  field  the  slope  generally  passes  through 
soil  and  strata ;  in  the  Southern,  it  often  passes  through  coal. 
When  it  passes  through  strata,  as  soon  as  the  first  workable  seam 
of  coal  is  reached,  a  gangway  or  mainroad  is  driven  in  it  and  par- 
allel with  that  an  airway.  Both  are  separated  by  a  pillar  of  coal 
from  10  to  12  yards  thick,  left  to  support  the  roof  and  pierced 
only  at  intervals  of  12  to  15  yards  by  "cross-cuts"  to  secure 
the  circulation  of  the  air.  From  the  gangway  chambers  or 
stalls  are  opened  at  the  most  convenient  angle,  where  the  miners 


DEVELOPING  THE  COAL  BEDS.  23 

cut  coal.  These  stalls  again  are  separated  by  pillars  varying 
in  thickness,  according  to  the  weight  and  the  character  of  the 
overlaying  strata,  and  which  are  also  pierced  at  regular  inter- 
vals by  cross-cuts  (see  diagram).  This  development  of  the 
seam  is  called  the  first  lift. 

The  slope  is  now  carried  further  down,  generally  by  night 
shifts,  for  during  the  day  coal  is  hoisted  over  the  upper  section 
from  the  seam  that  is  being  developed.  Carrying  the  slope 
down  a  second  vein  is  reached.  This  is  developed  in  the  same 
way  as  the  first  and  is  called  the  second  lift.  The  slope  is 
again  continued  in  its  downward  path,  until  the  third  seam  is 
reached,  which  is  worked  after  the  same  manner  as  the  above. 
This  is  the  third  lift.  Ordinarily  no  more  than  three  lifts  are 
operated  in  the  same  slope.  No  more  than  75  men  are  allowed 
by  law  to  work  in  the  same  lift,  nor  can  the  air  used  in  one  lift 
be  turned  into  another ;  each  lift  must  be  supplied  with  fresh 
air.  The  ventilation  of  these  lifts  is  effected  by  an  inlet  and 
an  outlet.  If  the  inlet  comes  down  the  slope,  a  second  open- 
ing is  made  at  another  point,  where  a  fan  is  attached,  which 
creates  a  vacuum  and  so  facilitates  circulation. 

The  law  requires  a  fixed  quantity  of  air,  not  less  than  200 
cubic  feet  per  minute  for  each  person  working  in  the  lift.  This 
is  regulated  by  doors,  erected  across  gangways  and  other  paths 
of  the  air  current,  so  that  each  working  is  provided  with  the 
necessary  supply.  In  order  to  carry  the  air  to  the  face  of  the 
chambers,  new  cross-cuts  must  be  driven  through  the  pillar  at 
intervals  of  about  30  feet ;  when  a  new  one  is  driven,  the  old 
one  is  walled  up  air-tight. 

SHAFT    MINING. 

Seams  lying  200  feet  or  more  beneath  the  surface  are  gener- 
ally worked  by  shafts"which  vary  in  depth  from  200  to  over 
2,OOOJgel£r  In  the  Northern  coal  field  they  vary  from  200  to 
17#50  feet.  The  average  depth  is  about  400  feet. 

In  deciding  the  location  of  a  shaft,  it  is  important  to  know 
the  lay  of  the  coal  beds,  and  for  this  purpose  bore-holes  are  put 
down.  Cross-sections  of  the  coal  measures  are  thus  secured, 


24  THE   ANTHRACITE    COAL    INDUSTRY. 

the  geological  structure  ascertained,  and  the  shaft  located  in 
the  most  advantageous  place.  Bore-holes,  in  the  oil  regions, 
have  been  put  down  for  $1.00  a  foot;  the  cost  is  nearly  twice 
as  great  in  the  anthracite  coal  fields.  The  expense  varies, 
however,  with  the  hardness  of  the  rock  and  the  depth  to  be 
reached. 

Lewis  A.  Riley,  who  has  had  large  experience  in  this  work, 
estimates  the  cost  per  foot  as  follows  : 

Labor $1.15 

Diamonds 66 

Fuel,  Water,  Repairs .41 

Total $2.22 

The  rapidity  of  the  work  depends  on  the  nature  of  the  strata. 

Sometimes  they  go  down  100  feet  in  24  hours,  while  in 
very  hard  rock  they  will  not  go  over  3  feet  in  that  time.  The 
expense  incurred  in  boring  test-holes  of  this  nature  may  be 
judged  from  the  fact  that  between  Pittston  and  Nanticoke  over 
200  holes  were  put  down  up  to  the  year  1888. 

The  cost  of  sinking  a  shaft  depends  upon  its  dimensions,  the 
nature  of  the  strata,  and  the  depth  to  which  it  must  be  sunk. 

The  dimensions  depend  upon  the  number  of  compartments 
needed. 

The  older  shafts  were  sunk  for  two  compartments  and  so 
were  only  10  by  18  feet.  In  recent  years,  the  shafts  sunk  are 
much  larger,  some  amounting  to  12  by  53  feet,  and  divided  into 
six  compartments,  two  for  hoisting  coal,  two  kept  in  reserve,  two 
as  an  egress  for  impure  air  and  called  the  "  up-cast,"  in  which 
are  also  placed  the  pump  rods,  steam  pipes,  column  pipe,  etc. 
If  water  is  hoisted  by  tanks  these  run  up  and  down  the  shaft 
in  a  separate  compartment. 

The  compartments  are  separated  by  huge  beams  called  bun- 
tons. 

Over  the  buntons,  separating  the  section  set  apart  for  venti- 
lation, match-boards  are  nailed  all  the  length  of  the  shaft,  and 
over  the  boards  thick  tar-paper  is  nailed  so  as  to  make  it  air- 
tight. On  the  sides  of  the  shaft  are  huge  timbers,  known  as 


s 


GROUND  PLAN  OF  SHAFT  TIMBERING.     -. 


SCALE      IN     FEET 


SLOPE  TIMBERING  OF  SQUARE  TIMBER. 


Copied  from  Dr.  Chance. 


DEVELOPING   THE    COAL   BEDS.  25 

"cribbing."  This,  in  some  shafts,  descends  to  a  distance  of 
from  20  to  30  feet,  to  where  the  rock  is  hard  enough  to  be  self- 
sustaining.  In  others,  it  goes  the  full  depth  of  the  shaft,  so 
as  to  avoid  any  accidents  from  rocks  falling  from  the  sides. 

This  is  the  case  in  Lytle's  new  shaft  at  Minersville,  which 
is  1,550  feet  deep,  and  divided  into  five  compartments,  7  by  13 
feet  each.  In  some  of  the  Wyoming  shafts,  this  cribbing  is 
absolutely  necessary  to  a  depth  of  150  feet. 

Between  Nanticoke  and  Pittston,  the  old  valley  of  the  Sus- 
quehanna  lies,  where  clay,  gravel  and  sand  in  some  sections,  go 
down  to  the  depth  of  150  feet.  This  diluvial  deposit  some- 
times takes  the  form  of  quicksand,  when  it  requires  the  greatest 
engineering  skill  to  go  through  it.  An  operator  in  the  Northern 
coal  field  struck  quicksand  in  sinking  a  shaft,  and  spent  $161,- 
000  before  he  got  the  first  carload  of  coal. 

In  sinking,  three  shifts,  of  eight  hours  each,  change  each 
other.  The  number  of  men  on  a  shift  depends  on  the  dimensions 
of  the  shaft  and  varies  from  6  to  18.  Holes  are  generally 
drilled  by  an  apparatus  operated  by  compressed  air,  and  the 
progress  of  the  work  is  from  25  to  35  feet  a  month.  In  hard 
rock,  the  cost  of  sinking  is  from  $5.00  to  $8.00  a  cubic  yard, 
for  shafts  between  600  and  800  feet  deep.  If  the  shaft  passes 
beyond  that  depth,  the  cost  may  go  up  as  high  as  $10.00  a  cubic 
yard.  Shafts  500  feet  deep  in  shale  and  soft  sandstone  have 
been  put  down  for  from  $2.00  to  $4.00  a  cubic  yard.  Alter- 
nate layers  of  soft  and  hard  rock  are  found  in  the  Wyoming 
Valley,  and  shafts  of  ordinary  depth  can  be  sunk  here  for 
from  $3.50  to  $4.00  a  cubic  yard. 

When  the  coal  is  reached,  a  wide  opening  is  made  in  the  coal 
seam  where  four  tracks  may  be  laid  to  give  ample  room  for 
the  handling  of  the  mining  cars.  This  opening  is  about  300 
feet  long  by  36  feet  broad  and  driven  on  either  side  at  the 
foot  of  the  shaft  where  the  cars  are  put  on  the  hoisting  car- 
riage. At  the  end  of  this  300  feet  the  gangway  is  narrowed 
to  the  usual  width,  and  the  airway  driven  parallel  with  it. 
The  gangway  and  airway  are  carried  with  all  possible  speed  to 
the  second  opening,  for  the  law  prohibits  the  working  of  any 


26  THE   ANTHRACITE   COAL    INDUSTRY. 

mine  until  a  second  way  of  escape  is  secured,  which  will  afford 
the  men  an  egress  in  case  of  accident  to  the  main  shaft. 

When  this  is  done,  chambers  are  opened.  The  shaft  is  sunk 
to  various  seams,  and  two  or  three  of  these  are  developed  at 
the  same  time  and  coal  hoisted  from  each.  Sometimes  these 
seams  are  developed  by  slopes  or  tunnels  underground.  Around 
the  foot  of  the  shaft,  it  is  necessary  to  secure  perfect  safety,  and 
so  about  80  square  feet  of  pillar  is  left  untouched  on  each  side 
of  the  gangway. 

The  gangways  and  airways  are  driven,  in  recent  years,  the 
same  dimensions,  which  are  about  14  feet  wide  by  7  feet  high. 
In  the  early  years  of  mining,  gangways  were  generally  driven 
9  by  7  feet,  in  order  to  give  the  main  road  the  greatest  pos- 
sible safety.  But  this  dimension  hardly  gave  sufficient  room 
to  the  drivers,  and,  consequently,  a  great  many  of  them  were 
injured,  while  it  also  interfered  with  the  ventilation  when 
loaded  cars  were  on  the  road.  For  these  two  reasons,  the  wider 
dimension  has  been  adopted. 

The  driving  of  gangways  and  airways  is  called  "  narrow 
work,"  and  is  done  by  contract.  Various  forms  of  contracts 
prevail. 

Most  companies  pay  so  much  on  the  ton  of  coal,  so  much 
per  lineal  yard  of  progress  in  coal,  and  if  rock  is  blasted,  so 
much  per  yard  on  the  rock,  and  when  timber  must  be  set  up, 
so  much  for  a  set  of  timber  spanning  the  roadway. 

Timbering,  when  needed,  must  be  well  done,  and  the  timber 
used  varies  from  14  to  18  inches  in  diameter  when  the  roof  is 
dangerous.  The  timbers  are  placed  at  about  5  or  6  feet  apart. 
The  miner,  in  gangways,  generally  has  two  laborers  in  the 
Northern  coal  field.  If  the  coal  is  soft  and  no  timbering  to  be 
done,  he  will  advance  at  the  rate  of  four  feet  in  eight  hours ; 
if  timbering  is  to  be  done,  it  will  fall  to  three.  If  the  coal  is 
hard,  without  timbering,  his  progress  will  not  be  more  than 
three  feet  in  eight  hours,  and  with  timbering,  it  will  hardly 
reach  two  and  a  half  feet. 

Standard  prices  have  prevailed  for  narrow  work  in  particu- 
lar veins,  and  one  of  the  aims  of  the  Miners'  Union  is  to  main- 


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DEVELOPING   THE   COAL    BEDS. 


27 


tain  these  prices,  which  have  been  lowered  in  many  sections  of 
the  anthracite  coal  fields,  by  operators  asking  miners  to  compete 
for  the  work.  In  fixing  prices  on  narrow  work  in  new  seams, 
the  foreman  takes  a  competent  miner,  puts  him  to  work,  com- 
putes his  expenses  in  supplies  aS9Tw\ages  paid  the  laborers,  and 
then  fixes  prices  so  that  he  will  be  at^e  to  make  from  $2.50  to 
$3.00  a  day. 

Let  us  suppose  he  advances  three  feeKm  eight  hours.  In 
hard  coal,  about  seven  Ibs.  of  powder  are  required  to  the  yard  ; 
oil,  squibs,  tools,  etc.,  will  cost  him  another  X20  cents  a  yard, 
and  he  pays  the  laborer  $2.47|  a  day ;  so  his  expenses  would 

be:  X 

— d 

7  Ibs.  of  powder  @  $1.50  for  25  Ibs $  .42 

Oil,  squibs,  sharpening,  etc .20 

Two  laborers  at  $2.47£  a  day L  4.95 

Total  expenses .$5. 57 

The  foreman  adds  $3.00  to  this  and  then  fixes  the  prices  to 
be  paid.  The  working,  however,  is  liable  to  change,  and  then 
a  readjustment  is  necessary.  Miners  in  narrow  work  make  on 
an  average  of  from  $75.00  to  $100  a  month.  The  operators 
in  the  Middle  and  Southern  fields  generally  pay  by  the  yard. 
The  following  prices  were  the  basis  prices  per  yard  in  coal  in 
the  Lehigh  district  during  the  years  1875-80. 


Year. 

District. 

Timbered  Gangway. 

Untimbered  Gangway. 

1875 
1876 
.1877 
1878 
1879 
1880 

Lehigh  District 
« 

a 
a 
it 
a 

6.12 
5.20  to  6.  48 
4.02  "  5.20 
4.34  "  5.50 
4.32  "  6.12 
5.20  "  6.12 

5.35 
4.  55  to  5.  68 
3.50  "  4.55 
3.78  "  4.81 
3.78  "  5.35 
4.54  "  5.34 

Qhambers,  called  also  breasts,  rooms,  and  stalls,  are  wocked 
by  contract.  Fixed  price^tf^mictt&F'a  car  of  coal,  rock- work 
and  timbering.  Out  of  this  the  miner  purchases  the  necessary 
supplies^such  as  powder,  oil,  tools,  etc.,  and  also  pays  the  wages 
of  his  laborer. 

In  some  workings,  chambers  are  opened  from  the  gangway 
their  full  width,  which  is  from  20  to  30  feet,  according  to  the 


28  THE   ANTHRACITE   COAL    INDUSTRY. 

nature  of  the  roof.  In  other  places  they  are  opened  12  feet  at 
the  gangway,  and  carried  so  for  20  feet,  and  then  widened  to 
their  full  width.  In  flat  veins  and  in  those  pitching  up  to  30 
degrees,  the  coal  is  loaded  in  cars  at  the  face  of  the  chamber. 
In  veins  which  pitch  over  30  degrees,  the  major  part  of  the  coal 
is  left  in  the  chamber,  the  quantity  taken  out  being  such  as 
to  give  the  miner  room  to  carry  on  his  work  and  build  his 
manway.  In  chambers  where  the  coal  is  left,  two  miners  gen- 
erally work  as  chums;  they  are  paid  from  $3.50  to  $4.50  a 
yard  for  working  the  stall  and  divide  their  earnings  equally. 
After  t{ie  stall  is  carried  to  its  full  length,  company  hands  are 
put  to^work  to  load  the  coal.  When  the  coal  is  loaded  into 
wagons  at  the  face  of  the  stall,  a  miner  and  a  laborer  work  to- 
gether. The  miner  pays  the  laborer  $2.20  for  loading  6  or  7 
cars  of  coal. 

The  laborer  also  helps  the  miner  at  timbering  and  rock-work, 
and  gets  one-third  of  what  the  company  pays  for  this  extra  labor. 
The  chambers  are  driven  in  most  flat  veins  and  in  those  pitching 
up  to  30  degrees,  to  a  distance  JQ£,  300  feek 

Two  men,  working  on  an  average  oT  20  days  a  month,  will 
drive  a  chamber  that  distance  in  a  year  in  seams  about  four  feet 
thick.  In  pitching  veins,  where  the  coal  is  left  till  the  cham- 
ber is  carried  to  its  full  length,  the  distance  to  which  a  stall 
is  driven  is  about  100  feet.  The  length  to  which  chambers 
are  carried,  as  well  as  their  width,  depends  largely  upon  the 
pitch  of  the  vein,  the  character  of  the  roof,  and  the  nature  of 
the  coal.  In  some  of  the  large  veins,  the  coal  "  runs,"  that  is, 
fissures  and  cleavages  are  in  the  seams,  so  that  when  a  cham- 
ber is  opened,  the  coal  runs  out  without  being  blasted. 

In  all  this,  we  see  the  great  variety  of  operations  in  the  an- 
thracite coal  fields,  which  necessitates  different  methods  for 
different  districts. 

COST    OF    MAINTAINING   OPENINGS. 

When  a  seam  has  been  opened  and  the  coal  is  being  removed, 
the  expense  of  keeping  the  main  avenues  of  transportation  in 
good  condition  is  considerable.  Old  workings  cannot  always 


DEVELOPING   THE    COAL   BEDS.  29 

be  abandoned.  They  must  be  kept  open  to  secure  proper  ven- 
tilation and  prevent  the  accumulation  of  explosive  gases.  ^Jn 
one  of  the  gaseous  mines  of  Wilkes-Barre,  a  force  of  8  men  was 
employed  solely  to  keep  open  such  an  old  working.  In  a  slope 
in  Williamston,  Dauphin  County,  a  force  of  32  men  is  kept  to 
attend  to"  the  timbering  needed.  Timbers,  in  some  collieries, 
rot  very  quickly.  They  will  not  last  a  year.  In  other  col- 
lieries, they  last  30  years  and  more.  In  most  places,  however, 
water  and  gas  make  their  life  short,  and  then  they  must  be 
replaced. 

If  we  now  consider  the  quantity  of  timber  in  a"  colliery,  from 
the  mouth  of  the  shaft  on  to  the  end  of  the  main  gangways, 
sometimes  aggregating  from  7  to  10  miles  in  length,  we  can 
well  imagine  the  heavy  outlay  in  timber  and  wages  necessary  to 
keep  all  the  openings  in  a  safe  condition.  .The  dead-work— ->the 
name  generally  given  to  this  class  c^Fwork-r— varies  'considerably 

°f^_;f.~*js>**inl*K&a!.&to*nu*r,!v**-i  i  .*.!•«»• ."  i •"• •"" 

in  mines,  but  it  generally  adds  from  3  cents  to  20  cents  to 
the  cost  of  producing  a  ton  of  coal. 

The  cost  of  maintenance  of  road-ways,  also,  is  cpnsiderable. 

There  are  some  collieries  which  have  over  8  miles  of  track 
underground,  which  must  be  kept  in  good  order.  The  rail  in 
common  use  is  a  T  rail  about  35  pounds  to  the  foot,  which 
costs  $13.00  a  ton.  In  order  to  keep  the  road  in  good  condi- 
tion, a  force  of  trackmen  and  helpers  are  needed.  This  would 
amount  to  about  two  men  to  four  miles  of  track.  To  this  item 
of  wages  must  be  added  that  of  supplies,  in  replacing  rails  and 
sleepers. 

The  item  of  ventilation  is  a  constant  source  of  expense. 
The  fan  must  be  run  night  and  day,  regardless  of  the  hoisting  of 
coal.  The  airways  must  be  carefully  inspected  every  morning 
and  evening.  Air  will  find  a  crevice  if  it  affords  a  short-cut 
to  the  up-cast,  and  such  crevices  must  be  blocked  up  air-tight. 
Hence  there  is  a  force  of  bradish-men  employed  whose  duty  it 
is  to  adjust  doors,  build  partitions,  wall  up  cross-cuts,  etc.,  so 
that  the  invisible  air  may  be  made  tractable  to  the  needs  of  the 
colliery,  and  led  by  diverse  ways  to  the  face  of  the  workings. 
In  gaseous  mines  such  as  are  found  in  the  Northern  coal  field, 


30  THE   ANTHRACITE   COAL    INDUSTRY. 

the  care  bestowed  on  ventilation  is  ceaseless,  for  it  means  life 
or  death  to  the  employes. 

These  are  some  of  the  items  of  expense  in  labor  and  material 
needed  to  keep  the  workings  open.  A  mine  is  not  like  a  fac- 
tory, where  a  man  can  set  all  things  in  order,  lock  the  door  and 
put  the  key  in  his  pocket  and  when  he  comes  again  at  the  end 
of  a  week,  he  finds  all  things  undisturbed.  No  colliery  can  be  so 
treated.  It  demands  constant  attention  whether  coal  is  hoisted  or 
not,  unless  the  operator  is  ready  to  abandon  it.  And  the  larger 
the  extent  of  the  workings,  the  greater  the  cost  of  maintenance. 

INCREASE   OF   MONEY   AND   MUSCLE,    AND    DECREASE    OF 
PROFITS   AND    WAGES. 

By  the  above  sketch  of  the  development  of  the  coal  fields, 
it  is  readily  seen  that  an  increasing  outlay  is  absolutely  neces- 
sary to  carry  on  the  work.  It  is  just  as  clear  also  that  more 
muscular  strength  and  skill  are  needed  to  cut  coal  in  the  lower 
veins  than  in  the  upper  ones.  This  means  that  more  capital 
and  more  labor  are  needed  to  operate  the  lower  coal  beds. 

It  is  evident  also,  assuming  for  the  nonce  that  the  art  of 
mining  is  constant,  that  the  same  amount  of  capital  and  labor, 
applied  to  extract  coal  from  the  deeper  veins,  will  yield  less 
returns  than  they  did  in  the  upper  seams.  This  is  true  as  a 
general  rule.  There  may  be  exceptions.  But  taking  the  in- 
dustry as  a  whole,  the  art  of  mining  being  constant,  the  returns 
to  the  same  amount  of  capital  and  labor  in  operating  the  lower 
veins  is  less  than  it  was  in  the  upper  ones.  The  law  of  dimin- 
ishing returns  was  felt  by  the  individual  operator  in  the  early 
days  of  mining.  Six  men,  with  a  thousand  dollars,  could  do  a 
great  deal,  when  the  coal  could  be  worked  in  the  light  of  day, 
and  all  they  needed  were  a  few  implements,  a  team  of  horses 
and  a  small  rolling  stock.  But  as  they  followed  the  veins 
downward,  they  worked  harder,  they  required  more  horses, 
and  the  day  came  when  the  returns  were  not  adequate  for  the 
extra  outlay  and  exertion,  and  so  they  quit.  What  they  needed 
was  more  capital.  The  lack  of  capital  drove  out  the  individual 
operator.  The  law  in  operation  was  that  of  diminishing  returns. 

Capital  flowed  into  the  coal  fields,  and  the  law  of  diminish- 


DEVELOPING   THE    COAL   BEDS.  31 

ing  returns  seemed  for  a  time  suspended.  It  was  still  there, 
however,  and  its  pressure  has  been  more  felt  in  the  last  decade 
than  ever  before  in  the  history  of  anthracite  mining.  Capital 
deferred  its  effect,  but  it  cannot  evade  the  law.  It  will  con- 
tinue to  operate  until  the  point  is  reached  where  any  additional 
increments  of  capital  and  labor  will  not  pay,  and  then  the  stock 
company  will  get  out  of  the  mining  business  as  the  individual 
operator  did,  and  for  the  same  reason.  Indeed,  it  is  the  case 
to-day,  that  some  mines  excellently  equipped  in  every  respect, 
have  been  abandoned,  not  for  the  want  of  beds  of  coal,  but  be- 
cause they  demanded  more  capital  and  labor  than  could  be 
profitably  expended  to  develop  them.  They  reached  the  mar- 
ginal return  and  passed  beyond  it,  and  were  abandoned.  At 
Yorkville,  in  Schuylkill  County,  the  Lehigh  Valley  Company 
has  $300,000  in  a  plant  which  they  have  abandoned.  In 
Lacka wanna  County,  operators  work  veins  less  than  3  feet  thick, 
but  they  are  not  remunerative.  They  are  operated  because  the 
companies  have  the  equipment  and  the  facilities  to  handle  coal, 
and  in  order  to  make  up  the  tonnage,  they  extract  coal  from 
these  small  veins.  The  point  will  be  reached  when  they  cannot 
go  further.  Some  of  the  veins  are  less  than  two  feet  thick,  and 
the  question  many  anthracite  coal  operators  will  have  to  answer 
within  the  next  half  century  is,  what  is  the  thinnest  vein  that 
can  be  profitably  operated? 

England  is  answering  the  question,  and  they  have  come  down 
to  veins  less  than  20  inches  thick.  Some  of  their  engineers  say 
that  the  margin  is  reached.  American  anthracite  operators  have 
not  been  able  to  operate  veins  much  less  than  three  feet  in  thick- 
ness. The  line  of  marginal  return,  as  far  as  it  has  been  discov- 
ered at  present,  is  close  to  three  feet.  The  economic  prevision 
of  anthracite  coal  operators  sees  the  end  of  this  store  house  of 
natural  force.  Those  who  hold  the  largest  areas  will  reach  the 
end  in  about  100  years  ;  during  1950-2000  A.  D.  company  after 
company  will  fall  out,  for  each  one  of  them  in  turn  will  find 
the  point  when  no  additional  capital  and  labor  can  be  profitably 
expended  on  the  smaller  veins.  As  they  approach  this  point  their 
returns  will  diminish.  This  is  true  to-day  if  we  take  the  an- 
thracite coal  fields  as  a  whole. 


32  THE   ANTHRACITE   COAL   INDUSTRY. 

Not  only  is  this  law  affecting  the  operators,  it  acts  also  with 
irresistible  pressure  on  the  miners,  and  here  we  find  one  of  the 
prime  causes  of  the  present  friction  between  capital  and  labor 
in  the  anthracite  coal  fields.  As  the  veins  get  deeper,  and  thin- 
ner, the  coal  becomes  harder,  there  is  more  rock  to  handle  and 
more  powder  and  muscular  exertion  needed.  Back  in  the 
sixties  and  seventies,  miners  could  do  work  in  two  hours,  which 
now,  in  the  smaller  veins,  takes  six.  Their  labor,  estimated  inx 
time  and  exertion,  is  increased  200  per  cent.  Tliis  condition 
has  come  on  gradually  during  the  last  decade,  and  as  it  became 
more  general,  the  miners  felt  that  their  labor  computed  in  time 
and  exertion  increased  ;  while  their  returns  in  wages  decreased. 
This  was  the  loadstone  which  drew  tlie  men  together  and  still 
holds  them  together.  They  express  it  by  saying  "  it  is  more 
work  and  less  pay."  Their  statement  is  just  and  deserves  con- 
sideration. The  palmy  days  of  mining  are  past.  Employes 
engaged  in  cutting  coal  must  face  hard  work.  The  men  will  un- 
doubtedly demand  concessions  from  their  employers  such  as  will 
intensify  the  struggle  between  these  cooperating  parties  in  the 
mining  industry.  It  may  be  safe  to  predict,  also,  that  the  in- 
tensified struggle  for  existence  against  nature  and  capital  will 
afford  a  firm  basis  for  unionism  among  the  men. 

In  future,  the  law  of  diminishing  returns  will  be  more  seri- 
ously felt,  for  thus  far,  three  counteracting  forces  have  held  it 
in  check.  These  are  :  improvement  in  the  art  of  mining,  in- 
creased prices,  and  cheaper  transportation.  But  to  these  checks 
there  is  a  limit  which  cannot  be  passed. 

Miners  could  never  do  the  work  demanded  of  them  to-day, 
if  it  were  not  for  improved  appliances  in  machinery  to  bore 
holes.  They  work  harder,  but  they  have  better  tools  to  work 
with.  The  drilling  machine  enables  them  with  less  exertion  to 
Bore  three  holes  to-day,  in  the  time  it  took  to  bore  one  with  the 
old  hand-drill.  This  invention  is  the  chief  improvement  which 
has  come  to  the  employes.  Experiments  are  now  making  to  still 
further  relieve  muscular  strength.  Drilling  machines  are  being 
introduced  which  are  operated  by  compressed  air.  Some  pre- 
dict a  complete 'revolution  in  the  methods  of  anthracite  mining 


DEVELOPING  THE  COAL  BEDS.  33 

by  this  innovation,  while  it  is  calculated  also  to  defer  the  point 
of  marginal  return.  The  miners,  however,  do  not  look  with 
favor  on  the  machine,  and  some  collieries  have  struck,  and  de- 
manded its  removal  from  the  mines.  Others  are  of  the  opinion 
that  it  will  not  succeed  in  superseding  the  miner,  because  of  the 
expense  attached  to  it. 

The  greatest  improvements,  however,  have  been  in  appliances 
to  handle  coal.  In  the  fifties,  200  cars  hoisted  from  the  shaft, 
was  considered  a  good  day's  work ;  to-day  from  600  to  800 
cars  are  hoisted.  In  shafts  1,500  feet  deep,  it  is  possible  to  hoist 
a  car  a  minute,  and  the  machinery  for  handling  this  coal  is  so 
accurately  adjusted  that  cars  from  the  foot  of  the  shaft  to  the 
breaker  seem  gifted  with  intelligence  as  they  almost  automatically 
pursue  their  destined  route.  The  aim  of  coal  operators  has  been 
to  so  reduce  the  cost  of  handling  coal  by  improved  machinery, 
that  this  gain  may  counteract  the  increase  in  the  cost  of  mining, 
and  thus  make  the  cost  of  production  as  near  stable  as  possible. 
The  large  companies  have  succeeded  in  doing  this  up  to  the 
present,  or  nearly  so,  but  the  race  between  the  law  of  diminish- 
ing returns  and  the  ingenuity  of  man  in  these  coal  fields,  has 
been  a  close  one  in  recent  years,  and  engineers  have  only  been 
able  to  keep  up  the  pace  by  a  plentiful  supply  of  capital  to 
draw  upon  to  put  their  inventions  into  operation.  The  law  of 
diminishing  returns  will  win,  however,  and  it  is  now  gaining 
ground  rapidly.  A  superintendent  of  wide  experience  in  the 
Northern  and  Southern  coal  fields  said  that  he  thought  the  en- 
gineers had  reached  a  point  where  the  demand  made  on  capital 
by  them  had  passed  the  limit  of  profitable  expenditure.  It  is 
in  the  nature  of  the  case  to  be  so.  Man  can  defer  but  cannot 
escape  the  eiFects  of  the  laws  of  nature.  These  will  sooner  or 
later  issue  the  dictum,  thus  far  and  no  further. 

Operators  have  yet  a  considerable  margin  to  work  upon. 
The  methods  pursued  by  many  of  them  are  extremely  expensive. 
There  is  to  every  shaft  a  certain  amount  of  fixed  charges. 
These  are  the  same  whether  they  produce  50,000  or  100,000 
tons,  but  in  the  one  case,  it  is  only  half  as  much  on  the  ton  of 
coal  as  in  the  other.  A  plant  worth  $300,000,  capable  of  pro- 
3 


34  THE   ANTHRACITE   COAL   INDUSTRY. 

ducing  30,000  tons  a  month,  and  only  producing  20,000  tons, 
is  far  from  reaching  the  margin  where  the  investment  does  not 
pay.  Companies  state  that  they  lose  money  in  mining  coal, 
and  still  the  vast  majority  of  plants  in  the  anthracite  coal  fields 
do  not  produce  over  two-thirds  of  their  capacity. 

Reduced  railroad  rates  enhance  the  returns  of  operators. 
Last  December,  individual  operators  secured  5  cents  a  ton  more 
than  they  formerly  did  on  tidewater  prices.  To  an  operator 
who  sent  to  market  1000  tons  a  day,  it  meant  a  daily  increase 
of  $50.00  profit.  This  offsets  the  effect  of  diminishing  re- 
turns. The  same  is  effected  by  an  increase  in  the  market 
prices.  When  the  miners  in  October  last  got  10  per  cent,  ad- 
vance on  their  wages,  it  meant  increased  cost  of  production  to 
the  operator  and  so  diminishing  returns,  but  by  adding  50  cents 
a  ton  to  the  wholesale  prices  at  tidewater,  the  operator  re- 
couped himself  and  thus  counteracted  the  effect  of  the  in- 
creased cost  of  production. 


CHAPTER  III. 

CAPITALIZATION. 

1.  CAPITAL'S  TRANSFORMING  POWER.  2.  APPRECIATION  OF  COAL  LAND. 
3.  ESTIMATE  OF  CAPITAL  GOODS.  4.  THE  COST  OF  PRODUCTION. 
5.  DISTRIBUTION  OF  THE  PRODUCTIVE  WEALTH. 


About  two  centuries  ago  the  major  part  of  that  portion  of 
northeastern  Pennsylvania  occupied  by  the  anthracite  coal 
fields,  was  marked  on  the  map  as  the  "Wilderness  of  St. 
Anthony."  The  name  was  very  appropriate  for  the  bleak  and 
barren  hills  of  Carbon  and  Schuylkill  counties.  The  Wyoming 
valley,  on  the  other  hand,  has  been  called  the  "  Garden  of  the 
State  "  ;  it  deserved  that  name  when  its  natural  beauty  was  not 
marred  by  the  hand  of  man.  To-day  the  unsightly  culm 
dumps,  rock  heaps,  coal  dust,  and  foul  black  streams  have 
spoiled  much  of  what  was  once  fair  to  look  upon. 

But  the  industry  that  has  contaminated  the  streams  and  dis- 
figured the  natural  features  of  this  "  Garden  of  the  State  "  has 
turned  the  "  wilderness  "  into  a  great  industrial  center,  where 
flourishing  villages,  thriving  towns  and  populous  cities  are  seen. 

On  this  area  of  470  square  miles,  not  less  than  three-quarters       \  ~ 
of  a  million  people  get  their  living  directly  or  indirectly  irom       A 
minmgT"^5esio!es"tlirs,  there  are  in  this  territory  machine  shops 
and  factories,  car  shops  and  foundries,  iron  and  steel  works, 
etc.,  some  of  which  are  directly  related  to  the  coal  industry, 
while  others  were  attracted  here  by  an  abundant  supply  of 
cheap  fuel. 

The  transportation  of  coal  to  market  also  furnishes  employ- 
ment to  thousands ;  while  commerce,  whose  fleet  messengers 
bring  from  afar  the  necessities  of  life  and  comfort  to  the  in- 
habitants of  this  area,  engages  thousands  more.  Thus,  if  we 

35 


36  THE   ANTHRACITE   COAL    INDUSTRY. 

take  all  classes  attracted  to  the  anthracite  coal  fields,  depending 
wholly  or  partially  on  them  for  subsistence,  the  number  will  be 
about  three-quarters  of  a  million  souls. 

One  of  the  prime  factors  in  transforming  the  "  Wilderness  of 
St.  Anthony  "  into  an  industrial  center,  threaded  by  railroads 
and  resounding  with  the  buzz  of  revolving  wheels,  was  capital. 
The  artificially  stored-up  energy  of  man  joined  hands  with  the 
stored-up  energy  of  nature,  and  the  wilderness  became  the 
scene  of  an  important  industry. 

Great  wealth  has  been  turned  into  these  regions,  which  crys- 
tallized into  the  form  of  tracks  and  rolling  stock,  machinery 
and  buildings  ;  much  of  it  is  invisibly  buried  in  deep  shafts  and 
rock  tunnels  ;  but  most  of  it  was  seed  which  brought  forth  a  hun- 
dred fold.  The  circulation  is  kept  up.  Capital  is  constantly 
sunk,  that  it  may  reappear  in  an  increased  form,  only  again  to 
begin  the  cycle  anew.  The  profits  realized  on  the  sunken  capi- 
tal were  due  to  three  factors  :  (a)  to  natural  force  stored  up  in 
these  coal  fields ;  (6)  to  labor  which  also  flowed  in  as  the  col- 
lieries were  developed ;  (c)  to  the  courage  and  capacity  of  en- 
trepreneurs who  opened  up  these  coal  measures  and  established 
the  industry  on  its  present  basis.  The  object  of  this  chapter 
is  to  trace  the  part  played  by  capital  in  the  development  of  the 
anthracite  coal  fields,  by  giving  instances  of  what  has  been  sunk 
in  certain  localities. 

APPRECIATION   OF   COAL   LAND. 

Charles  Gide  says  ' '  the  value  of  the  coal  mine  concessions  in 
the  Department  of  the  Pas-de-Calais  has  risen  from  £1,080,000 
in  1853-63,  when  they  were  first  granted,  to  £11,840,000  at 
the  present  day.  Thus  in  thirty  years  the  value  has  been  mul- 
tiplied by  more  than  ten."  (Pol.  Econ.,  p.  463.)  This  rise  in 
the  value  of  coal  land  is  nowhere  better  illustrated  than  in  the 
anthracite  coal  fields  of  Pennsylvania. 

All  this  territory,  two  centuries  ago,  belonged  to  the  Indians. 
In  1749,  a  section  125  miles  long  and  30  miles  wide,  extending 
from  the  Blue  Mountains  on  the  south  to  the  Susquehanna 
River  on  the  west,  and  from  the  mouth'  of  Mahanoy  Creek  on 


CAPITALIZATION .  3  7 

the  north  to  the  mouth  of  the  Lackawaxen  Creek  on  the  east, 
comprising  all  of  Dauphin  and  Schuylkill  counties  together 
with  parts  of  Northumberland,  Columbia,  Luzerne,  Northamp- 
ton, Monroe  and  Pike  counties — all  this  territory  the  Govern- 
ment bought  of  the  Indians  for  the  sum  of  £500.  To-day,  an 
acre  of  coal  land  containing  three  feet  of  workable  coal  will 
command  from  $500  to  $  600 ;  while  a  building  lot  in  the  city 
of  Wilkes-Barre,  on  one  of  its  busy  thoroughfares,  will  com- 
mand more  than  $20,000.  In  1768,  a  similar  purchase  of  the 
Wyoming  Valley  was  effected  and  the  price  paid  the  Indians 
was  about  the  same.  Dr.  Throop  says  in  his  "  Fifty  Years  in 
Scranton,"  that  in  1774,  land  was  sold  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Scranton  for  4  cents  an  acre  ;  in  1884,  the  same  land  could  not 
be  bought  for  $3,000  an  acre. 

In  1762,  200  colonists  from  Connecticut  settled  at  Mill 
Creek,  near  Wilkes-Barre,  and  the  land  there  appreciated  so 
that  it  commanded  from  $2.00  to  $3.00  an  acre. 

These  hardy,  industrious  and  patriotic  pioneers,  who  sent,  in 
1778,  3,000  bushels  of  wheat  to  the  Continental  Army,  and 
whom  the  combined  forces  of  both  Indians  and  Tories  did  not 
dislodge,  never  dreamt  that  beneath  their  lands  rich  beds  of 
anthracite  lay.  The  land  was  valued  by  them  for  its  wheat, 
tobacco  and  corn  crops,  which  they  took  to  Easton  market,  60 
miles  away,  driving  thither  over  Mt.  Pocono.  They  caught 
bass  and  shad  in  the  Susquehanna  River,  which  they  sold  for 
from  2  cents  to  8  cents  each.  It  was  not  until  the  first  decade 
of  the  eighteenth  century  that  the  rumor  of  coal  beds  in  the 
Wyoming  Valley  got  abroad,  and  then  it  was  a  voice  as  from 
afar,  the  meaning  of  which  was  never  fully  understood  by  the 
men  of  that  generation.  Back  as  far  as  1768,  a  blacksmith  by 
the  name  of  Gore  had  used  anthracite  in  the  neighborhood 
of  Wilkes-Barre,  but  it  was  in  1807  that  an  attempt  was 
first  made  to  ship  coal  to  market,  and  from  that  time  coal 
land  has  appreciated,  and  those  of  the  early  settlers,  who  tena- 
ciously held  to  their  farms,  have  found  them  an  El  Dorado,  of 
which  their  ancestors,  living  by  agriculture,  fishing  and  hunt- 
ing, never  dreamt.  The  news  of  the  discovery  of  coal  in 


38  THE   ANTHRACITE   COAL   INDUSTRY. 

the  Wyoming  Valley  brought  to  the  scene  ardent  fortune 
seekers.  Some  of  these  never  left — they  lie  beneath  costly 
monuments  in  graves  overlooking  the  scene  of  their  activities, 
and  their  descendants  enjoy  the  heritage  left  by  their  hardi- 
hood, courage  and  perseverance. 

There  is  a  romantic  element  associated  with  the  estates  that 
form  the  basis  of  some  mining  companies.  The  story  of  the 
purchase  of  coal  land  which  furnished  the  basis  of  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  Delaware  and  Hudson  Canal  Company  is  representa- 
tive. In  1812  a  young  Philadelphia  merchant,  named  William 
Wurts,  left  his  store  to  explore  the  fields  whence  the  stone  coal 
which  was  winning  its  way  into  public  favor  in  that  city,  came. 
While  exploring,  he  met  one  David  Nobles,  who,  to  escape  im- 
prisonment for  debt,  had  taken  to  the  woods.  Mr.  Wurts  engaged 
the  wanderer,  and  having  found  traces  of  coal  in  Carbon  dale, 
Archbald  and  north  of  Scranton,  he  sent  him  in  his  ragged  ap- 
parel and  unkempt  appearance  to  buy,  in  these  neighborhoods, 
all  the  land  he  could  secure. 

By  this  scheme  the  young  merchant  secured  hundreds  of 
acres  for  prices  ranging  from  50  cents  to  $3.00  an  acre.  In 
1814,  Wurts  began  operations  on  the  Anderson  farm,  north  of 
Scranton,  and  exhibited  the  production  in  Philadelphia  and 
New  York  City.  Two  obstacles  stood  in  the  way  of  success. 
On  the  one  hand  was  a  prejudiced  public,  which  looked  with  dis- 
favor on  hard  coal  that  was  so  difficult  to  ignite ;  hence  a  mar- 
ket had  to  be  created  by  teaching  the  public  how  to  use  the 
fuel.  On  the  other  hand,  there  was  no  means  of  transportation 
from  the  mines  to  the  cities  on  the  seacoast.  By  1820,  the 
first  obstacle  was  removed,  and  a  rapidly  growing  demand  came 
from  a  public  which  had  learned  the  excellency  of  anthracite  as 
a  domestic  fuel.  So  in  1822,  the  Wurts  Bros,  hauled  in  wagons 
100  tons  from  Carbondale  to  Lackawaxen,  where  they  built 
rafters  of  pine,  put  the  coal  on  them  and  floated  the  cargo  down 
the  Delaware  River  to  Philadelphia,  and  sold  it  for  $10.00  and 
$12.00  a  ton.  That  act  facilitated  the  removal  of  the  second 
obstacle — transportation.  In  the  following  year,  a  charter  was 
secured  to  construct  a  canal  along  the  valleys  of  Neversink  and 


CAPITALIZATION.  39 

Koundout  as  far  as  Honesdale.  To  secure  capital  for  the  under- 
taking, it  was  advertised  that  coal  could  be  mined  and  brought 
to  New  York  City  for  $3.00  a  ton,  and  sold  for  $10.00. 

In  1824  the  Delaware  &  Hudson  Canal  Co.  was  organized, 
with  a  capital  of  $1,500,000.  When  the  books  were  opened, 
the  entire  stock  was  taken  in  a  single  day.  Work  was  begun. 
At  the  end  of  eight  years,  the  gravity  railroad  and  the  canal 
were  not  completed,  but  all  the  capital  was  spent.  In  1832, 
the  state  of  New  York  advanced  a  loan  of  $300,000.  In 
April  following,  the  canal  was  opened,  and  by  the  close  of  that 
year,  90,000  tons  of  coal  had  been  shipped  to  market.  The 
sanguine  predictions  of  the  organizers  of  the  company  were 
soon  verified.  Substantial  returns  were  realized  by  the  stock- 
holders. In  1834  they  shipped  150,000  tons,  and  dividends 
began  to  be  paid.  Twenty-one  per  cent,  was  paid  in  1841  on 
the  capital  stock,  and  ten  years  after  the  canal  was  opened 
(1843)  all  the  indebtedness  of  the  company  was  paid,  save  the 
$300,000  it  owed  the  state  of  New  York.  This  last  indebted- 
ness was  paid  January  1,  1849,  and  the  company  freed  of  all 
debt.  To-day,  the  company  operates  about  30  collieries,  and 
in  1899  produced  4,429,575  tons  of  coal,  or  about  9  per  cent, 
of  the  total  tonnage  of  anthracite. 

The  history  of  other  pioneer  companies  in  anthracite  mining 
is  similar.  They  were  organized  by  men  of  vigorous  minds  and 
brave  hearts,  who  courageously  grasped  the  opportunity,  fought 
innumerable  difficulties,  and  carried  to  success  the  business  they 
laid  their  hands  to.  It  required  courage  ;  for  in  the  thirties 
and  forties,  the  knowledge  as  to  the  contents  of  the  coal  measures 
was  meagre  among  men  who  made  it  their  business  to  attain  that 
information.  In  the  forties,  the  Pennsylvania  Coal  Co.  sent  its 
geologist  and  chief  engineer  as  far  as  Scranton  and  Dunmore,  to 
prospect  for  coal.  They  found  an  outcrop  on  the  west  of 
Scranton,  but  thought  it  a  mere  misplacement.  They  came  to " 
the  conclusion,  after  careful  investigation,  that  there  was  no 
coal  there,  while  beneath  the  soil  they  trod  were  70  feet  of 
workable  coal.  In  this  way  the  Pennsylvania  Coal  Co.  let  slip 
some  of  the  richest  coal  lands  which  they  could  then  have 


40  THE   ANTHRACITE   COAL    INDUSTRY. 

secured  at  low  rates.  The  advisers  of  the  company  thought 
that  there  was  little  coal  worth  working  north  of  Pittston.  The 
men  who  invested  money  in  coal  land  in  those  days  walked  by 
faith  and  not  by  sight.  They  had  the  commercial  instinct  which 
impelled  them  to  risk,  and  many  of  them  reaped  fortunes. 

The  appreciation  of  coal  land  was  gradual.  As  population 
increased  and  the  market  for  coal  was  well  established,  as  rail- 
roads were  opened  and  collieries  developed,  as  science  unveiled 
the  contents  of  this  treasure  store  of  nature  and  increased 
mechanical  skill  came  to  the  fore,  coal  land  advanced  in  value. 
It  was  an  evolution.  The  rise  has  not  reached  its  apex  even 
to-day.  We  have  some  landmarks  of  the  rise  in  the  Northern 
coal  field.  In  1839,  William  Henry  came  to  Slocum  Hollow, 
now  Scranton,  and  paid  $8,000  for  503  acres  near  Roaring 
Brook,  or  on  an  average  of  $18  an  acre.  It  was  a  big  price, 
and  was  the  talk  of  the  day,  and  many  prudent  men  said  it 
was  a  mistake.  Abijah  Smith  came  to  Plymouth  in  1807  and 
bought  75  acres  for  $500,  or  $6.66  an  acre.  John,  his  brother, 
followed  him  about  the  same  time,  and  paid  $600  for  120  acres, 
or  $5  an  acre.  A  writer  in  the  North  American  Review  in  the 
year  1837,  estimates  the  price  of  coal  land  in  the  Schuylkill 
region  at  $40  an  acre.  The  American  Encyclopaedia  of  1873 
estimated  coal  land  at  $250  an  acre.  In  the  census  of  1890 
the  estimate  given  is  $488  an  acre. 

During  the  last  decade,  as  the  best  veins  are  being  exhausted 
and  financiers  see  in  the  distance  the  end  of  this  coal  supply, 
the  price  of  coal  land  has  risen  higher  than  ever  before.  Prices 
are  also  more  accurately  adjusted  to  the  contents  of  the  seams, 
for  the  geological  surveys  have  been  minute  and  a  compara- 
tively thorough  knowledge  of  the  coal  measures  is  accessible  to 
all  to-day.  The  value  of  coal  land  is  not  proportionate  to  the 
quantity  of  workable  coal  in  the  veins,  for  the  conditions  of 
working  them  may  be  very  different.  Indeed,  the  value  of  an 
acre  of  coal  in  the  same  vein  may  differ  within  a  few  miles. 
The  Red  Ash  vein  from  Plymouth  down  to  Nanticoke  is  good 
working,  but  the  same  vein  from  Plymouth  Junction  up  to 
Pittston  is  very  different.  Here  there  are  from  eight  inches  to 


CAPITALIZATION.  41 

two  feet  of  stuff  between  the  rock  and  the  vein,  which  runs  when 
the  atmosphere  comes  in  contact  with  it,  so  that  a  smaller  per- 
centage of  the  original  contents  of  the  bed  is  produced,  and 
the  pillars  are  unsafe.  Hence  the  owner  of  10  acres  of  Red 
Ash  coal  at  Nanticoke  is  better  off  than  a  man  who  owns  20 
acres  of  the  same  vein  above  Plymouth  Junction. 

An  exact  estimate  of  the  total  capital  in  coal  land  in  the  an- 
thracite fields  is  difficult  to  make.  The  price  varies  from  $500  to 
$5,000  an  acre.  The  total  capital  invested  in  coal  land  in  1836 
as  estimated  by  a  writer  in  the  North  American  Review  (Vol. 
42,  p.  241)  was  $4,900,000.  The  American  Encyclopedia  in 
the  edition  of  1873  estimated  it  at  $75,000,000.  In  the  year 
1889  an  estimate  was  given  by  John  Birkenbine,  who  placed  it 
at  $162,000,000,  which  did  not  include  undeveloped  lands. 
The  census  of  1890  gives  213,938  acres  valued  at  $104,415,- 
802.  The  total  acreage  as  estimated  by  William  Griffiths  in 
the  "Bond  Record,"  1896,  is  as  follows : 

DISTRICTS.  ACRES.  BEDS. 

In  "Wyoming 100,744 4  feet 

In  Lehigh 27,637 3  feet 

In  Western  Middle 54,455 3  feet 

In  Southern 84,669 3  feet 

Total 267,505 

If  we  estimate  this  at  $500  per  acre,  we  have  $133,752,500 
as  an  approximate  estimate  of  the  value  of  the  coal  land.  Of 
course,  every  year,  the  acres  that  are  exhausted  become  value- 
less, but  those  which  are  untouched  appreciate,  which  is  the 
reason  that  in  recent  years  stocks  in  coal  land  have  more  and 
more  found  their  way  into  closed  boxes  of  the  investors.  Prof- 
itable transactions,  however,  are  continually  being  made  in  the 
coal  industry.  The  recent  transaction  conducted  by  J.  P. 
Morgan  is  a  good  illustration.  In  a  suit  brought  to  restrain 
the  voting  trustees  and  directors  of  the  Erie  Railroad  from  buy- 
ing the  Pennsylvania  Coal  Co.'s  mines  and  plants,  with  certain 
miles  of  railroad,  the  plaintiff  said  that  Mr.  Morgan  paid 
$27,400,000  for  the  property,  and  then  sold  it  to  the  Erie  for 


42  THE   ANTHRACITE   COAL    INDUSTRY. 

$37,000,000,  clearing  $9,600,000  by  the  transaction.  The 
reply  made  by  the  defendant  was,  that  Mr.  Morgan  only  cleared 
$2,300,000  on  the  deal,  which  it  claims  was  only  fair  and  just, 
being  less  than  9  per  cent,  on  the  transaction.  It  is  the  opin- 
ion of  men  familiar  with  coal  land  stocks  that  more  money 
has  been  made  by  speculating  in  coal  land  than  by  mining  coal. 

ESTIMATE   OF   CAPITAL   GOODS. 

In  order  to  get  some  idea  of  the  amount  of  capital  invested 
in  machinery,  buildings,  and  general  equipment,  we  will  give  an 
estimate  of  the  value  of  a  plant  in  Lackawanna  County,  capa- 
ble of  producing  1,500  tons  a  day. 

Sinking  shaft  200  feet $  15,000 

Tower  over  shaft 3,000 

2  engines  of  150  horse  power,  each  $5,000 10,000 

Boiler  plant 10,800 

Wire  ropes 8,000 

Barn,  blacksmith  shop,  engine  house,  etc 5, 000 

Two  sets  of  scales 4,000 

Breaker,  machinery,  belts,  etc 45,000 

Water,  per  year 800 

Tracks  outside 275 

Three  mules  outside 375 

Pumping  apparatus .- , 5, 000 

Gangways  and  airways 830 

Tracks  inside  (5  miles  long) 5,000 

Cars,  175  @  $40  each 7,000 

Fan,  fan-house  and  fan-engine 4,000 

Mules,  underground,  50  @  $125  each 6,250 

Kope  haulage  inside  (engine,  etc.) 4,000 

Dumping  equipment 3,000 

Total $137,330 

Mr.  Veith,  superintendent  of  the  Reading  Coal  and  Iron 
Company,  said  that  the  company  generally  invested  from 
$200,000  to  $250,000  in  a  plant  calculated  to  produce  1,200 
tons  a  day.  A  superintendent  at  Wilkes-Barre  estimated  the 
outlay  in  that  region  about  the  same  as  that  of  the  Reading. 
At  Silver  Creek,  Mr.  Veith  said  the  plant  represented  $500,000 


CAPITALIZATION.  43 

capital  with  a  capacity  of  1,500  tons  a  day.  In  one  of  the 
plants  of  the  Delaware,  Lackawanna  &  Western  Coal  Co., 
where  the  operators  have  had  bad  luck,  over  a  million  dollars 
has  been  expended.  The  outlay  varies  greatly,  and  depends 
on  the  difficulties  met  with  in  sinking  and  developing  the  coal 
seams.  An  individual  company  began  operations  in  Schuylkill 
county,  not  far  from  Pottsville,  with  a  capital  of  $400,000.  In 
less  than  four  years,  all  was  spent,  little  coal  produced,  the  com- 
pany failed  and  the  property  reverted  to  the  land  owners.  It 
is  estimated  that  not  far  from  a  million  dollars  has  been 
expended  in  the  Lytle  colliery  plant  at  Minersville.  From 
these  figures,  which  are  given  by  men  versed  in  the  coal  industry, 
we  may  get  some  idea  of  the  capital  invested  in  necessary 
equipments  to  develop  the  lower  seams. 

The  aleatory  element  plays  a  very  important  part  in  the 
development  of  mines,  and  no  gold  mining  camp  has  more  stir- 
ring records  of  good  and  bad  luck  than  are  found  in  these  coal 
fields.  Many  individuals  have  sunk  all  the  money  they  had  in 
a  colliery  ;  the  enterprise  failed,  all  their  capital  was  consumed 
and  in  poverty  they  died  of  a  broken  heart.  Others  started 
operations  on  borrowed  capital,  and  in  a  few  years  became  mil- 
lionaires. In  the  Hunt  shaft  which  belonged  to  the  Delaware, 
Lackawanna  &  Western  Coal  Co.,  the  river  broke  into  the 
workings  and  drowned  the  colliery.  For  six  months,  night 
and  day,  the  company  by  heavy  pumps  and  water  tanks,  tried 
to  get  the  water  out,  but  failed  to  lower  it  an  inch.  The  mil- 
lions of  the  operators  were  helpless  in  combat  with  the  flood, 
and  the  colliery  was  abandoned.  In  another  colliery,  in  the 
same  coal  fields,  each  one  of  the  five  stockholders  cleared  in 
one  year  $55,000.  When  the  company  was  formed  and  op- 
erations were  commenced  at  this  colliery,  each  of  the  parties 
put  in  $20,000 ;  they  operated  the  mines  for  15  years ;  dur- 
ing that  time,  it  yielded  each  of  them  a  handsome  fortune, 
and  when  they  finally  sold  it  they  realized  $400,000.  An- 
other colliery,  in  Lackawanna  County,  changed  hands  a  few 
years  ago.  The  former  operators  had  lost  money.  The  parties 
who  purchased  it  paid  $500,000  for  the  property.  The  new 


44  THE    ANTHRACITE    COAL    INDUSTRY. 

proprietors,  within  a  year,  struck  a  rich  vein  of  coal  which 
will  supply  the  plant  with  sufficient  production  for  the  next  20 
years,  and  they  are  clearing  away  their  bonded  indebtedness  at 
the  rate  of  $30,000  a  month. 

Another  company,  in  Luzerne  county,  opened  up  a  rich  vein 
of  coal,  and  in  their  anxiety  to  increase  production,  did  not 
leave  sufficient  pillars.  As  they  advanced  the  inevitable  result 
came — the  mine  closed  in  upon  them.  It  took  the  operators 
six  months  to  open  it  again,  at  an  expenditure  of  over  $50,000. 

To  attract  capital  to  an  industry  which  is  fraught  with  so  great 
an  aleatory  element,  the  profits  must  be  great.  It  was  the 
promise  of  large  profits  which  made  it  possible  for  the  Delaware 
and  Hudson  Canal  Co.  to  secure  $1,500,000 ;  the  Lehigh  Coal 
and  Navigation  Co.,  $2,200,000 ;  and  the  Pennsylvania  Coal 
Co.,  $2,000,000  capital,  before  they  could  bring  the  product  of 
their  mines  to  the  market. 

What  estimate  can  be  made  of  the  amount  of  capital  repre- 
sented in  mining  plants  for  the  production  of  anthracite  coal? 
In  the  year  1837,  the  following  estimate  is  given  by  a  writer 
in  the  North  American  Review  (Vol.  42,  page  241). 

Eailroads  and  Canals  :  489  miles $9,750,837 

Collieries,  Boats,  Cars,  etc 1,270,280 

Mining  Capital 480,000 

Total $11,501,117 

In  1834,  a  report  of  the  capital  invested  in  the  production, 
transportation  and  purchase  of  coal  land,  was  made  to  the  Legis- 
lature of  Pennsylvania,  and  the  aggregate  sum  was  placed  at 
$19,176,217. 

In  the  census  of  1840,  the  estimated  capital  invested  in  pro- 
ducing anthracite  coal  is  $4,334,102.  An  estimate  is  given  in 
the  American  Encyclopaedia,  edition  of  1873,  as  follows  : 

Collieries,  437,  each  at  $100,000 $  43,700,000 

Canals,  673  m.  @  average  cost  of  $7,000  p.  m 47,000,000 

K.  E.  2290  m.  single  track  at  $56,000  p.  m 128,000,000 

Total , $218,700,000 

Joseph  F.  Harris  says  in  the  Forum  (Vol.  13,  p.  193)  that 
$2.00  is  needed  for  every  ton  of  annual  production  to  keep  a 


CAPITALIZATION.  45 

colliery  in  good  working  order.  G.  P.  Bidder,  in  the  Nine- 
teenth Century  (Vol.  35,  p.  807),  says  that  it  requires  ten 
shillings  for  every  ton  of  annual  production  to  open  and  de- 
velop a  mine.  These  two  estimates  are  pretty  near  each  other, 
and  mean  that  a  colliery  that  produces  500,000  tons  a  year 
needs  a  capital  of  $1,000,000.  Estimated  on  this  basis,  the 
capital  represented  in  mining  plants  which  produced  54,034,224 
tons  of  anthracite  coal  in  1899  would  be  $108,068,448. 

According  to  the  census  of  1890,  the  aggregate  sum  under  the 
head  of  capital  goods  is  $57,368,671,  or  an  average  of  $1.41 
for  every  ton  produced  in  1889.  On  this  basis,  we  have  $76,- 
188,255  as  the  total  capital  invested  in  equipments,  etc.,  for  the 
tonnage  produced  in  1899.  If  we  take  the  latter  estimate  and 
add  it  to  the  estimate  of  the  capital  invested  in  coal  land,  we  have  : 

Capital  invested  in  coal  land $133,802,500 

Capital  invested  in  implements,  buildings,  etc 76,188,255 

Total $209,990,755 

The  number  of  employes  in  1899  was  140,583 ;  the  above 
total  represents  a  capital  of  $1,493  for  every  employe  in  the  an- 
thracite mines.  The  lure  to  the  investment  of  this  vast  sum  is 
the  hope  of  profits.  English  mine  operators  expect  10  per  cent, 
returns  in  order  to  realize  profits  on  and  the  redemption  of  the 
capital  invested.  The  anthracite  coal  operators  are  actuated  by 
the  same  motives  ;  they  are  in  the  business  for  profit  and  what- 
ever they  realize  must  come  from  the  coal  produced.  Let  us 
then  consider  the  cost  of  production. 

THE    COST   OF   PKODUCING   A   TON    OF    COAL. 

Competition  is  a  law  of  nature  dominating  every  sphere  of 
organic  life.  It  has  ever  been  dominant  in  human  affairs  and 
will  remain  to  the  end  of  time  in  every  department  of  human 
activity.  Its  abuse  has  stirred  the  ire  of  many  philanthropists 
and  economists,  who  vividly  depict  the  ruin  and  distress  due  to 
the  struggle  for  preeminence  between  rival  individuals  or  groups. 
The  fruits  of  limitless  competition  in  the  essentials  of  life  are 
death  to  the  weak  but  life  to  the  strong.  Civilization  echoes 
with  the  cry  of  distress  due  to  ruthless  competition.  Granting 


46  THE   ANTHRACITE   COAL    INDUSTRY. 

that  to  be  true,  it  does  not  follow  that  competition  is  wholly 
bad,  and  resembles  an  accursed  bough  which  is  to  be  lopped  off 
the  tree  of  life.  To  imagine  such  a  thing  is  vain  ;  it  is  a  dream 
never  to  be  realized.  A  state  of  non-competition  would  be  dull, 
insipid  and  barren.  Life  would  lose  its  zest  and  the  race  would 
not  be  worth  running.  What  we  need  is  to  draw  the  line  be- 
tween competition  which  enhances  life  and  that  which  brings 
death,  and  then  cleave  to  the  one  and  forsake  the  other.  To 
find  that  line  is  difficult.  It  may  be  beyond  our  ken,  but  it  is 
what  men  need  and  leaders  everywhere  should  strive  to  dis- 
cover it. 

There  has  always  been  competition  in  the  Wyoming  Valley 
during  historic  times.  The  first  settlers  fought  each  other 
with  musket  and  sword  for  possession  of  the  soil.  Occasion- 
ally white  men  fought  their  brethren  of  kindred  blood,  but  at 
the  approach  of  a  foreign  foe,  both  joined  hands  to  preserve  life 
against  the  stealthy  onslaught  of  the  Indians. 

When  peace  was  secured  and  the  quiet  life  of  agriculture  was 
steadily  pursued,  competition  was  still  present ;  it  related  to 
the  excellency  of  the  crops,  the  fineness  of  maple  sugar,  the  skill 
in  hunting  or  fishing,  and  even  the  fair  maidens  entered  into 
spirited  rivalry  as  to  their  skill  at  the  spinning  wheel. 

That  era  is  passed,  the  conditions  of  life  have  changed,  but 
competition  still  holds  sway.  Now  the  question  is,  who  is  the 
best  miner,  the  best  engineer,  the  best  mechanic,  etc.,  and  in  no 
sphere  is  competition  more  keen,  and  human  capacity  more 
exerted,  than  in  the  attempt  to  produce  cheap  coal.  The  fore- 
man or  superintendent  who  can  keep  down  the  cost  of  produc- 
ing a  ton  of  coal  is  the  man  of  the  hour,  and  is  in  constant  de- 
mand. The  man  who  can  successfully  combat  the  tendency  to 
increased  cost  of  production,  due  to  greater  depths  of  workings, 
greater  expense  to  keep  them  open,  and  more  refuse  and  water 
to  handle,  is  the  one  the  operators  are  after.  Success  in  this 
regard  is  widely  known  in  coal  circles.  Honor,  confidence  and 
remuneration  are  bestowed  upon  the  successful  man,  and  his 
counsel  is  eagerly  sought  by  his  peers.  To  stimulate  their  fore- 
men some  companies  have  offered  prizes  to  those  who  pro- 


CAPITALIZATION.  47 

duce  the  cheapest  coal.  The  object  of  the  operators  was  legiti- 
mate, but  it  often  worked  injury  to  the  employes  in  charge  of 
unscrupulous  men.  Many  foremen,  eager  to  clutch  the  prize 
offered,  made  their  names  a  curse  upon  the  lips  of  men,  and  were 
finally  banished  by  burning  wrath  from  the  scenes  of  their 
activity.  The  cry  of  the  operators  is  "  cheap  coal/ '  and  fore- 
men and  superintendents,  anxious  to  respond,  have  sometimes 
resorted  to  cunning  devices  which  oppress  the  employes. 

The  cost  of  production  varies  in  every  colliery,  in  different 
veins  in  the  same  colliery,  and  in  different  sections  of  the  same 
vein.  It  depends  upon  many  conditions.  The  thickness  of 
the  vein  has  much  to  do  with  it.  From  six  to  seven  feet  of 
height  in  the  clear  is  needed  for  the  cars ;  if  the  seam  is  eight 
feet  thick,  no  rock  need  be  handled  to  secure  that  height ;  if  it 
is  only  three  feet  thick,  four  feet  of  rock  must  be  blasted,  which 
adds  considerably  to  the  cost  of  mining  a  ton  of  coal.  In  a 
shaft  in  Lackawanna  county  the  coal  is  only  twenty-six 
inches  thick  and  every  carload  costs  the  company  in  mining 
$1.86. 

If  the  roof  is  bad,  it  means  a  considerable  outlay  in  timber, 
which  in  some  Schuylkill  collieries  goes  up  to  1 2  cents  per  ton 
produced.  Water  may  enter  the  mines  freely  and  necessitate  a 
considerable  loss  of  time  in  its  removal.  The  distance  of  the 
coal  from  the  foot  of  the  shaft  enters  into  the  computation  of 
the  cost  of  production,  for  if  the  workings  are  at  a  considerable 
distance  the  cost  of  transportation  increases  and  more  rolling 
stock  is  needed.  It  depends  also  on  the  amount  of  coal  mined, 
for  the  fixed  charges  are  nearly  uniform  whether  the  plant 
produces  1,000  or  1,500  tons  a  day,  but  in  the  latter  case,  the 
fixed  charges  would  only  be  two-thirds  per  ton  of  what  they 
would  be  in  the  former.  The  market  demand  for  coal  has  its 
influence :  if  it  is  brisk,  the  coal  inspector  will  pass  cars  which 
have  10  per  cent,  of  bony  coal  in  them  ;  if  the  demand  is  slow, 
he  will  condemn  cars  which  have  5  per  cent,  of  impurities 
in  them,  so  that  the  breaker  hands  will  have  to  exercise  greater 
care  in  cleaning  the  coal,  and  the  production  of  the  plant  may 
be  reduced  by  one-third.  The  weather  has  its  influence  also. 


48  THE   ANTHRACITE   COAL   INDUSTRY. 

A  great  quantity  of  water  is  used  now-a-days  to  wash  the  coal, 
so  that  hard  frost  will  sometimes  block  a  plant  and  cause  delay. 

In  strippings,  where  coal  is  mined  by  the  day  and  not  by 
contract,  the  personal  character  of  the  workmen  is  an  important 
factor  in  the  cost  of  production.  In  one  of  these  strippings, 
the  foreman  in  charge  pointed  to  two  gangs  of  six  men  each 
working  in  two  pits  about  ten  yards  apart  and  under  the  very 
same  conditions,  and  said  "  I  get  nearly  twice  as  much  coal  from 
this  pit  as  from  yonder  one.  These  work,  those  don't  half 
work."  Yet  he  could  not  remedy  the  evil.  If  he  remonstrated 
with  them,  the  reply  was  "  Me  not  got  four  hands."  If  he 
discharged  one  of  them  all  would  quit  work. 

The  personal  element  in  foremen  also  counts  considerably  in 
the  quality  and  amount  of  work  done  by  the  employes.  Some 
bosses  have  the  tact  to  get  along  excellently  well  with  their 
men,  so  that  they  work  with  a  will,  whether  the  foreman  is 
present  or  not.  Others  bully  and  irritate  those  under  their  com- 
mand, so  that  it  is  considered  a  virtue  to  shirk  and  skimp  work. 

In  a  large  colliery,  during  the  year,  needless  waste  will  amount 
to  a  considerable  sum,  unless  strict  account  of  supplies  is  kept. 
Prior  to  the  eighties  and  nineties,  the  returns  from  the  mines 
had  been  such  that  the  large  companies  paid  little  or  no  regard 
to  the  item  of  supplies.  The  foreman  in  charge  sent  in  his 
monthly  order,  and  the  supplies  were,  without  question,  for- 
warded. In  the  last  decade,  however,  there  has  been  a  change 
in  this  respect.  Now  a  strict  account  is  kept'  of  the  smallest 
item,  and  the  foreman  is  held  responsible  for  the  proper  use  of 
all  supplies,  and  must  at  all  times  render  an  account  to  the 
management.  Under  the  old  regime,  shovels,  hammers,  steel, 
oil,  etc.,  disappeared  in  mysterious  ways ;  but  when  returns 
diminished,  and  the  management  investigated  where  they  could 
curtail  expenses,  the  item  of  supplies  was  more  closely  watched, 
and  in  some  collieries,  a  saving  of  50  per  cent,  was  effected  under 
this  head. 

Skill  in  management  while  developing  a  colliery  has  much  to 
do  with  the  returns  derived  from  it.  Wise  management  will 
guard  against  the  error  of  disproportionate  expenditure  between 


CAPITALIZATION.  49 

outside  and  inside.  A  company  in  Schuylkill  county,  under 
the  superin tendency  of  a  man  who  lacked  judgment  in  this  re- 
gard, placed  $120,000 — the  major  part  of  the  capital — in  a 
first-class  plant  on  the  surface,  but  before  the  coal  beds  were 
developed,  so  as  to  furnish  a  reasonable  quantity  of  coal  to 
the  breaker,  all  the  capital  was  spent.  This  lack  of  judgment 
brought  the  company  to  the  verge  of  bankruptcy. 

Some  collieries  have  far  more  favorable  natural  conditions 
than  others.  The  power  of  the  engines  and  the  capacity  of 
the  pumps  and  the  magnitude  of  the  boiler  plant,  depend  very 
largely  on  the  depth  of  the  coal  beds.  There  are  collieries  in 
the  Southern  coal  field  which  consume  from  8  to  10  per  cent, 
of  the  tonnage  sent  to  market,  to  generate  steam,  because  they 
hoist  from  a  depth  of  1,500  feet,  two  tons  of  rock  and  ten 
tons  of  water  for  every  ton  of  coal  produced.  In  mines  where 
there  is  much  rock  to  be  blasted,  if  it  is  hard  sandstone,  it 
will  cost  the  company  from  $2.00  to  $2.75  a  yard  in  allow- 
ances. In  a  shaft  in  Lackawanna  county  the  employers  paid  a 
miner  as  high  as  $6.00  a  yard  for  blasting  rock.  The  item 
of  water  varies  greatly.  In  some  instances  it  amounts  to  10 
cents  per  car  of  coal  mined.  In  the  Schuylkill  region,  pumps 
are  abandoned  as  a  means  of  removing  water  from  deep  shafts. 
When  the  shaft  goes  down  to  1,500  feet,  large  tanks  are  used 
and  the  water  is  removed  at  one-third  the  expense  of  pumping 
it  out.  In  the  Wyoming  Valley  tanks  are  also  being  introduced 
in  preference  to  pumps.  In  the  Lytle's  new  shaft,  two  tanks  are 
thus  used,  each  with  a  capacity  of  2,500  gallons,  which  can  be 
raised  from  a  depth  of  1,550  feet  in  one  minute.  They  are 
self-acting.  A  pair  of  powerful  engines  are  set  apart  solely  for 
the  purpose  of  hoisting  these  huge  tanks  which  fill  automatic- 
ally, and  as  they  come  to  the  surface,  they  topple  over  and  dis- 
charge their  contents  into  chutes  specially  constructed  to  carry 
away  the  water. 

In  some  veins,  the  rock  so  clings  to  the  coal  that  it  is  very 

difficult  to  dislodge  it.     Instead  of  being  dislodged  as  a  body, 

it  comes  in  layers,  so  that  the  miner  must  blast  it  the  second 

and  third   time.      A   Hungarian    expressed    himself  in  this 

4 


50  THE   ANTHRACITE   COAL   INDUSTRY. 

difficulty  by  saying  "  you  must  shoot  him  three  times."  When 
this  is  the  case,  the  miner  may  not  be  able  to  cut  more  than  six 
cars  of  coal  with  a  keg  of  powder,  so  that  the  foreman  must 
give  him  allowance  in  order  that  he  may  earn  the  average  wage. 
The  Delaware,  Lackawanna  and  Western  Company  placed  the 
minimum  number  of  cars  to  be  cut  with  a  keg  of  powder  in 
the  early  eighties  at  18,  and  when  the  average  during  the  month 
fell  below  that,  allowance  was  granted.  When  this  is  done,  it 
adds  to  the  cost  of  production. 

The  lay  of  the  veins  has  its  influence  also.  In  Panther 
Creek,  the  veins  pitch  so  that  they  are  best  worked  by  driving 
tunnels  from  the  one  to  the  other,  which  means  an  outlay  of 
from  $35  to  $50  a  yard  in  tunnelling.  Again  in  veins  which 
pitch  over  40  or  45  degrees,  the  coal  is  left  in  the  chamber, 
held  in  place  by  a  strongly  built  framework  called  a  battery ; 
when  the  coal  is  cut,  it  falls  lump  on  lump,  and  as  the  bulk, 
measuring  100  by  25  by  20  feet,  moves  on  an  incline  plane  of 
60  or  70  degrees,  the  weight  crushes  and  grinds  a  large  quantity 
of  the  coal  to  powder,  so  that  the  waste  often  amounts  to  40 
and  45  per  cent.  This  item  adds  considerably  to  the  cost  of 
mining. 

In  the  Southern  coal  field,  the  veins  on  the  average  pitch 
60  degrees.  One  man  in  Tuscarora  said  he  worked  the  hardest 
place  in  Schuylkill,  and  the  reason  he  gave  was,  that  the  coal 
in  his  chamber  pitched  at  an  angle  of  110  degrees. 

Two  difficulties  meet  us  in  the  effort  to  get  data  as  to  the  cost 
of  producing  a  ton  of  coal :  First,  the  refusal  of  operators  to 
give  the  figures ;  and  second,  the  great  variety  of  these  figures 
providing  we  could  get  them.  No  two  collieries  are  alike,  and 
the  same  colliery  has  not  the  same  figure  for  two  successive 
months. 

Dr.  Chance  gave  an  estimate  of  a  dozen  collieries,  and  closes 
with  the  following  remark :  "  These  are  only  approximate,  and 
in  many  cases,  are  evidently  untrustworthy.  It  is  exceedingly 
difficult  if  not  impossible  to  obtain  reliable  data  from  many  of 
the  individuals  and  corporations  mining  coal.  Their  reasons 
for  withholding  exact  statements  are  often  of  a  private  nature, 


CAPITALIZATION.  51 

and  it  seems  beyond  the  province  of  this  report  to  examine  into 
and  disclose  to  the  public  the  private  business  of  individuals 
or  details  of  the  business  of  corporate  bodies."  (Coal  Mining, 
p.  361.) 

Some  of  the  companies  state,  in  these  estimates,  that  it  cost 
them  $3.16,  $2.53,  and  $3.13  to  produce  a  ton  of  coal,  which 
is  absurd  on  the  face  of  it,  when  it  is  remembered  that  coal  at 
tide- water  sells  on  an  average  for  less  than  $4.00  a  ton. 

G.  P.  Bidder  says  in  the  Nineteenth  Century  (Vol.  35,  p. 
807,  May,  1894)  that  it  cost  six  shillings  to  produce  a  ton  of 
coal  in  England :  the  cost  is  distributed  as  follows  : 

Wages  69.26  per  cent. 

Materials 15.26  per  cent. 

Royalties  on  coal  raised 7.70  per  cent. 

Surface  rents 1.52  per  cent. 

Rents  and  taxes 3.15  per  cent. 

Salaries,  general  expenses 3.11  percent. 

100. 00  per  cent. 

This  estimate  would  be  about  $1.44  a  ton,  and  there  is  no 
reason  to  believe  that  the  cost  of  production  in  the  anthracite 
coal  fields,  on  an  average,  exceeds  that. 

In  1850,  Mr.  Neal  in  his  report  of  the  Philadelphia  and 
Reading  Kailroad  Co.,  said,  that  "  the  mines  in  the  Schuylkill 
Valley  can  deliver  coal  at  Mt.  Carbon  at  $1.25  and  $1.50  per 
ton." 

In  the  sixties,  a  foreman,  still  living,  placed  coal  on  the  cars 
ready  for  the  market  for  50  cents  a  ton.  The  Delaware  &  Hud- 
son Canal  Co.  said  in  its  report  for  1849,  that  coal  could  be  put 
on  the  cars  at  Carbondale  for  60 J  cents  a  ton.  In  1860,  the 
Barclay  Coal  Co.,  operating  in  the  Wyoming  Valley,  appeared 
before  the  New  York  Senate  Investigating  Committee,  and  said, 
if  it  could  get  $1.75  a  ton  for  the  coal  it  shipped  to  Towanda 
on  the  North  Branch  Canal,  it  was  satisfied.  This  would 
bring  the  cost  of  production  at  the  mines  near  the  dollar  mark. 
The  Delaware  &  Hudson  Canal  Co.  paid  an  individual  oper- 
ator at  the  breaker,  $1 .36  a  ton  for  all  coal  of  the  size  of  chest- 
nut and  above ;  from  this  sum  the  operator  had  to  pay  20  cents 


52  THE   ANTHRACITE  COAL   INDUSTRY. 

a  ton  as  royalty,  so  that  his  profits  must  come  out  of  the  $1.16 
per  ton  left  him.  In  the  years  1881-2,  the  Reading  Coal  and 
Iron  Co.  stated  that  the  average  cost  of  production  was  $1.46 
and  $1.47,  which  included  royalties,  insurance,  and  general  ex- 
penses. One  of  the  collieries  of  this  company  produced  coal 
at  83  cents  per  ton.  C.  A.  Ashburner,  in  Vol.  18  of  the 
Trans,  of  Am.  Inst.  of  Mining  Engineers ,  says  it  costs  $1.95 
to  produce  a  ton  of  coal  when  the  wages  paid  the  miners  was 
85  cents  a  car  of  two  gross  tons.  J.  M.,  an  individual  oper- 
ator, mined  coal  and  placed  it  on  the  car  ready  for  the  market 
for  86  cents  and  89  cents  a  ton.  J.  H.,  in  the  Hazel  ton  region, 
placed  coal  on  the  cars  for  70  cents  a  ton.  T.  C.,  in  Lacka- 
wanna  county,  placed  coal  on  the  cars  for  94  cents,  and  a  rival 
colliery,  under  the  same  company,  had  a  lower  figure.  In  the 
Mahanoy  Valley,  miners  work  in  veins  from  12  to  15  feet 
thick  for  $4.50  a  yard.  The  chambers  are  driven  30  feet 
wide.  A  cubic  yard  equals  a  ton,  so  that  $4.50  per  yard  for 
coal  12  feet  thick  driven  30  feet  wide  would  be  about  15  cents 
a  ton  for  mining.  Allowing  25  per  cent,  for  refuse,  it  would 
be  about  19  cents  a  ton  as  the  cost  of  mining.  If  we  add  23 
cents  a  ton  for  loading  and  haulage,  and  20  cents  a  ton  for 
cleaning,  and  15  cents  a  ton  for  ventilation  and  timber,  the 
coal  would  then  be  put  on  the  cars  at  76  cents  a  ton. 

J.  B.,  in  Lackawanna  county,  placed  coal  on  the  cars  for  one 
year  at  an  average  cost  of  69  cents  a  ton.  The  same  gentleman 
produces  coal  to-day  at  less  than  a  dollar  a  ton.  The  Susque- 
hanna  Coal  Co.  produced  coal  from  1877  to  1882  inclusive,  for 
an  average  cost  per  ton  of  $1.13,  $1.04,  $0.96,  $1.20,  $1.22, 
$1.43.  W.  S.,  in  Luzerne  county,  placed  coal  on  the  cars  at 
an  average  cost,  for  one  year,  of  87  cents  a  ton.  An  operator 
in  Schuylkill  county  said  that  he  mined  coal  for  an  average  of 
45  cents  per  diamond  car. 

These  figures  have  been  gleaned  from  reliable  parties  who 
have  no  reason  to  conceal  the  truth.  They  are  possibly  some 
of  the  lowest  averages  which  prevail,  but  they  show  that,  under 
favorable  conditions,  it  is  possible  to  produce  coal  at  an  average 
cost  of  a  dollar  a  ton. 


CAPITALIZATION.  53 

The  following  figures  are  taken  from  the  books  of  an  opera- 
tor in  Schuylkill  county. 
Average  cost  per  ton. 

Year.  Inside.  Outside.  Total. 

1892  65.07  28.05  111.42 

1893  61.38  32.28  110.77 

1894  63.58  33.88  117.86 

1895  62.35  31.26  113.95 

The  following  are  the  figures  for  1896  month  by  month. 


Month. 

Inside. 

Outside. 

Total. 

Jan. 

67.49 

32.17 

118.55 

Feb. 

88.11 

33.01 

150.28 

Mar. 

67.90 

28.35 

115.71 

Apr. 

70.44 

28.84 

123.14 

May 

66.13 

29.94 

119.58 

June 

71.15 

29.30 

118.20 

July 

76.33 

29.22 

125.94 

Aug. 

69.99 

29.07 

114.37 

Sept. 

61.39 

29.53 

107.21 

Oct. 

62.82 

26.42 

102.35 

Nov. 

65.49 

31.24 

111.71 

Dec. 

61.19 

29.60 

127.01 

Average  for 

year  1896          69.03  29.72  117.83 

Taking  the  five  years,  we  find  that  coal  was  produced  at  this 
colliery  for  an  average  cost  of  $1.1 4T3^  per  ton. 

The  following  itemized  account  of  a  colliery  for  one  month, 
shows  how  minute  the  subdivision  is,  so  that  the  management 
can  instantly  trace  any  extra  cost  in  mining. 

Inside.  Cost  per  ton. 

Mining  Coal 60.44 

Deadwork 07.20 

Transportation  and  Hauling 07.74 

Maintaining  Roads 01. 03 

Maintaining  Cars 00.72 

Ventilation 01,44 

Hoisting 00.88 

Maintenance  of  Machinery 

Pumping 00.49 

Other  expenses  not  above  specified 01.78 

Total  inside 81.72 

Total  inside  previous  month 92.53 


54 


THE   ANTHRACITE   COAL   INDUSTRY. 


Outside.  Cost  per  ton. 

Transportation 01.98 

Handling 02.05 

Cleaning 03.10 

Weighing  and  Inspection 01.45 

Culm 01.12 

Maintenance  of  Machinery 

Other  expenses  not  above  specified 01. 31 

Total  outside ILOi 

Total  outside  previous  month 12.56 

Fixed  expenses 04.99 

Total  cost 97.72 

Total  cost  previous  month 110.08 

Tonnage  previous  month 

New  construction 

Horses  and  mules  killed 

The  following  figures,  relative  to  the  inside  expenses  of  pro- 
ducing a  ton  of  coal,  are  taken  from  the  books  of  one  of  the 
companies  in  the  Northern  coal  field  for  three  successive  months 
in  1900. 

INSIDE   EXPENSES. 


* 

| 

1 

|| 

bC 

a 

•a 

•jj 

13 

£ 

3 

1 

8 

a 

1 

* 

a 

r* 

I 

6 

k 

^a 

H 

B 

o 

H 

50.35 

5.94 

2.30 

10.04 

1.07 

2.24 

71.94 

57.63 

2.63 

1.81 

10.80 

1.33 

2.81 

77.01 

44.70 

5.74 

2.48 

9.45 

1.74 

3.41 

67.52 

Average  50.89J 

4.77 

2.19| 

10.09f 

1.38 

2.82 

72.16J 

The  following  estimates  of  the  cost  of  producing  a  ton  of 
coal,  are  given  by  two  men  well  versed  in  mining,  both  of 
whom  are  successful  managers  of  collieries  in  the  Northern 
coal  field  : 

First. 

Transportation 05 

Ventilation 02 

Roads,  rails,  repairs 05 

Dead  work 12 

Fixed  charges 03 

Mining 52 

Supplies 15 

Outside  expenses,  breaker,  clerk,  etc..  .05 
Total  per  ton 99 


Second. 

from  .08  to  .14 
from  .02  to  .03 
from  .10  to  .15 
from  .05  to  .10 
from  .02  to  .03 
from  .55  to  .60 
from  .12  to  .15 
from  .10  to  .15 
from  $1.04  to  $1.35 


CAPITALIZATION.  55 

One  of  these  gentlemen  produced  32,551  tons  of  coal  last 
December  at  an  average  cost  of  $1.04.  Successful  mining  con- 
sists in  keeping  down  these  several  items  in  the  cost  of  produc- 
tion. This  is  the  aim  of  the  foreman  in  charge,  and  he  is  a 
happy  and  highly  favored  man  if  he  can,  during  the  year,  pro- 
duce coal  at  an  average  cost  per  ton  of  less  than  a  dollar. 

From  the  above  data,  it  is  safe  to  say  that  coal  is  produced 
from  $1.00  to  $1.30  a  ton ;  if  we  put  the  figure  at  $1.25  a  ton 
as  the  average  cost  throughout  the  anthracite  coal  fields  of 
placing  coal  on  the  cars  ready  for  the  market,  we  should  not 
be  far  from  the  actual  cost  of  production. 

To  this  we  must  add  royalties,  insurance,  office  expenses  and 
taxes.  Those  who  hold  old  leases  have  royalties  as  low  as  12 
cents  a  ton  ;  those  of  modern  times  reach  45  and  50  cents  a 
ton  in  the  Northern  field,  and  about  40  cents  in  the  Southern, 
on  all  sizes  sent  to  market  above  pea-nut  coal.  A  fair  average 
for  royalties  would  be  30  cents  a  ton.  The  above  mentioned 
items  would  be  approximately  as  follows  : 

Per  ton. 

Royalties 30 

Insurance 004 

Office  expenses 004 

Taxes 005 

.313 

This  would  make  the  cost  per  ton  $1.56.  Transportation  to 
tide-water  costs  about  $1.50  a  ton ;  the  average  price  realized 
at  tide  is  $3.75  net  for  stove  coal ;  hence  we  have  : 

Cost  of  production  per  ton  including  royalties,  etc...  $1.56 

Transportation  to  tide-water 1.50 

Total $aM 

Price  realized  per  ton  at  tide- water $3. 75 

Profit  of  operator  per  ton 69  cents. 

These  would  be  average  profits ;  some  individual  operators 
realize  less  than  25  cents  a  ton  profit,  while  others  are  known 
to  have  passed  the  dollar  mark.  The  following  statement  of 
T.  P.  Fowler,  President  of  the  New  York,  Ontario  and  Western 
Railroad  corroborates  our  computation.  "I  do  not  know  to 
what  extent  the  anthracite  business  has  been  effected  by  railroad 


56  THE   ANTHRACITE   COAL   INDUSTRY. 

rates,  but  I  think  it  could  be  shown  in  an  investigation  of  the 
subject,  that  all  the  operators  have  made  money  out  of  mining 
and  shipping  coal  or  in  selling  their  ventures  at  an  advance. 
Some  of  them,  now  said  to  be  millionaires,  began  ten  years  ago 
with  a  hole  in  the  ground  as  an  asset.  One  of  them,  who  has 
recently  offered  to  sell  at  $1,200,000,  a  property  which  cost 
him  not  over  $200,000,  bases  his  valuation  on  the  fact  that  he 
had  averaged  70  cents  a  ton  profit  during  the  last  few,  com- 
paratively dull,  years  on  all  coal  mined.  They  have  nearly 
all  made  money."  (Com.  &  Fin.  Chronicle,  1898,  p.  744.) 

DISTRIBUTION    OF   THE   PRODUCTIVE    WEALTH. 

The  miner  works  for  wages,  the  capitalist  furnishes  the  in- 
struments of  production  for  profits,  the  land-owner  permits  the 
extraction  of  coal  from  his  estate  for  royalties  ;  but  each  one  of 
them  must  look  for  his  returns  from  the  coal  produced,  which 
meets  a  public  demand,  and  for  which  the  consumer  pays  a 
certain  price.  The  sum  realized  from  the  sale  of  anthracite 
produced  at  the  366  mines  is  the  source  that  furnishes  the 
motive  power  which  keeps  the  industry  in  motion.  Miners 
work,  looking  for  their  share  of  the  distribution  in  the  form  of 
wages  ;  the  land-owner  takes  his  share  in  the  form  of  royalties  ; 
and  the  remainder  is  left  in  the  hand  of  the  capitalist,  and 
represents  his  share. 

In  the  production  of  coal  three  elements  are  essential.  We 
must  have  nature,  labor  and  capital.  Nature  has  furnished  the 
raw  material,  labor  modifies  it  as  to  place  and  form,  while 
capital  furnishes  the  means  whereby  the  modification  is  accom- 
plished. Not  one  of  these  elements  can  be  dispensed  with. 

Nature's  forces,  packed  in  these  coal  measures,  is  the  basis 
of  all  the  industry ;  this  serviceable  treasure  of  power  has  at- 
tracted to  it  both  labor  and  capital.  But  before  the  coal  is 
ready  for  consumption  it  must  be  cut,  transported  to  the  surface, 
broken,  cleaned  and  washed  in  the  breaker,  and  again  trans- 
ported to  where  men  may  advantageously  use  it.  In  this  work 
the  strong  arms  of  scores  of  thousands  of  workingmen  are  en- 
gaged, and  without  this  modification  of  the  original  contents  of 


CHART  SHOWING  PROPORTION  OF  DISTRIBUTION  OF  THE  PRODUCTION 

OF  THE  MINES  FOR  YEARS  1820-1899,  WHICH  is  ESTIMATED 

AT  1,152,706,181  TONS. 


If  the  coal  mined  during  the  above  period  sold  for  an  average  of  $4.00 
a  ton  and  distribution  were  made  in  the  above  proportion,  the 
share  of  each  of  the  interested  parties  would  be  : 

Laborer's  and  Miner's  Wages,  90c.  per  ton  =$1,037,435,562.90  or  22.5  per  cent. 

To  Carriers,  $1.50  per  ton  =  $1,729,059,271.50  or  37.5  per  cent. 

To  Operators,  $1.00  per  ton  =  $1,152,706,181      or  25     per  cent. 

Eoyalties  and  Insurance,  60c.  per  ton  =  $    691,623,708.60  or  15     per  cent. 


CAPITALIZATION.  57 

the  coal  beds  there  would  be  no  wealth  produced  and  nothing 
to  distribute. 

Under  our  present  form  of  industrial  organization  it  is  a  natu- 
ral law  that  capital  is  absolutely  necessary.  Put  man,  without 
capital,  in  possession  of  the  richest  coal  deposits  the  world  con- 
tains, and  he  is  helpless  to  produce  a  ton  of  it.  Give  him  a 
pick  and  shovel  and  he  will  be  able  to  do  something  ;  but  the 
moment  we  do  that  we  give  him  capital,  that  is,  he  uses  pre- 
viously stored-up  wealth  to  produce  more  wealth.  All  the 
capital  invested  in  machinery,  buildings,  shafts,  etc.,  in  the  coal 
fields  is  wealth  produced  in  past  time  and  crystallized  in  this 
form,  and  without  these  aggregations  of  stored-up  energies  of 
past  years  the  anthracite  industry  would  be  at  a  stand-still. 

"  Capital  in  general  and  labor  in  general  cooperate  in  the 
production  of  the  national  dividend,  and  draw  from  it  their 
earnings  in  the  measure  of  their  respective  (marginal)  efficien- 
cies. Their  mutual  dependence  is  of  the  closest.  Capital  with- 
out labor  is  dead  ;  the  laborer,  without  the  aid  of  his  own  or 
some  one  else's  capital,  would  not  be  long  alive."  (Prof.  Mar- 
shall, Prin.  of  Econ.,  p.  617.) 

It  may  be  asked  with  logical  consistency,  if  then,  these  three 
forces  are  coordinate  in  the  production  of  wealth,  why  should 
they  not  be  also  coordinate  in  its  distribution?  If  nature, 
labor  and  capital  are  equally  essential  to  the  production  of  the 
ton  of  coal,  why  should  they  not  have  equal  right  in  dividing 
what  has  been  produced  ?  The  argument  has  moral  value,  and 
leads  up  to  the  questions,  how  is  distribution  effected  ?  Who 
performs  the  function  of  distribution?  Are  there  any  laws 
governing  distribution  ?  It  will  be  said  that  the  capitalist  di- 
vides the  spoil,  and  gives  to  each  according  to  his  good  pleasure. 
He  holds  the  key  which  unlocks  the  sources  of  wealth,  and  it  is 
he  who  imposes  conditions  on  the  land-owner  and  the  laborer, 
and  compels  them  to  serve  for  his  profit.  Is  it  just? 

Justice  is  not  the  concern  of  the  law  of  nature.  When  a  fall 
of  rock  or  coal  kills  a  man  in  the  mines,  the  law  of  gravity  does 
not  ask  whether  he  was  a  good  man  or  a  bad  man,  whether  he 
deserved  to  live  or  to  die.  No  more  does  the  law 


58  THE   ANTHRACITE   COAL   INDUSTRY. 

and  demand  follow  the  course  of  justice,  and  in  distribution, 
each  one  receives  his  share  by  the  operation  of  that  law  which 
consults  not  the  claims  of  morality.  The  business  of  pro- 
duction is  a  game.  Each  party  enters  it  on  the  best  possible 
terms  he  can  make,  and  each  one  gets  out  of  it  as  much  as  he 
possibly  can.  The  law  which  regulates  the  game  is  that  of  sup- 
ply and  demand,  and  in  its  operation  it  asks  not  whether  the 
laborer  has  bread  in  his  cupboard  or  not,  it  does  not  concern 
itself  whether  the  capitalist  is  a  millionaire  or  not.  It  operates, 
that  is  all,  and  each  party  makes  the  best  possible  terms  in  the 
work  of  production  wherein  antagonistic  interests  meet.  When 
the  contract  is  made,  distribution  follows  accordingly.  The 
share  of  the  miner  in  a  month  may  be  $40,  while  that  of  the 
capitalist  is  $40,000 ;  the  distribution  is  according  to  the  law 
of  supply  and  demand,  which  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  mor- 
ality of  the  case.  But  the  question  rings  forth  from  thousands 
of  miners  with  resolute  emphasis,  "Is  it  right?  Is  it  morally 
right  for  one  man  to  get  $40,000  and  another  $40  ?"  That  is 
another  question  and  one  of  the  most  serious  ever  asked  by 
man. 

Before  we  attempt  an  answer  to  this  question,  let  us  take  a 
step  further  and  ask,  How  can  we  remedy  this  inequality  in  the 
distribution  of  the  productive  wealth  ?  What  better  system  of 
distribution  can  be  introduced  ?  If  we  say  to  the  capitalist, 
"  You  can't  stand  at  that  post  any  longer  and  dole  out  this 
pittance  to  labor  and  take  the  lion's  share  yourself/7  he  will 
say,  "  If  I  can't,  I  withdraw  ";  then  we  have  stagnation,  and 
the  capitalists  can  stand  that  better  than  the  laborer.  Some 
will  say,  "All  right,  let  the  state  operate  the  mines ;"  then, 
as  we  saw  before,  we  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  politicians. 
It  is  comparatively  easy  to  see  the  injustice  of  the  present 
method  of  distribution,  but  to  solve  the  question,  how  to 
secure  ideal  justice  in  dividing  the  productive  wealth,  has 
puzzled  the  keenest  minds  of  both  ancient  and  modern  times ; 
and  philosophers  and  economists  of  the  present  day  are  no 
nearer  the  solution  than  were  their  predecessors  of  a  thousand 
years  ago. 


CAPITALIZATION.  59 

There  is  one  thing  which  should  always  be  kept  in  mind, 
namely,  that  the  amount  of  wealth  to  be  distributed  is  limited. 
"  Contrary  to  the  popular  belief,  the  amount  of  wealth  pro- 
duced is  small  and  insufficient,  even  in  the  professedly  wealthy 
countries.  Hence  the  acuteness  of  the  problem  of  distribution 
and  the  difficulty  of  effecting  a  solution,  for  clearly  the  most 
skillful  distribution  in  the  world  will  never  succeed  in  allotting 
large  shares  when  the  whole  mass  to  be  divided  is  small."  (C. 
Gide,  Prin.  of  Pol.  Econ.,  p.  406.) 

Are  we  then  to  lie  supinely  and  let  the  law  of  supply  and 
demand  operate?  No.  Workingmen  have  by  combination 
been  able  to  check  the  disastrous  effect  of  economic  laws,  and 
there  is  no  reason  why  the  anthracite  coal  miners  cannot  do  the 
same.  There  are  two  lines  of  activity  possible  :  the  one  legis- 
lative and  the  other  self-help.  Some  economists  have  gone  so 
far  as  to  say  that  a  minimum  wage  ought  to  be  established  by 
law.  It  can  undoubtedly  be  done,  but  the  probable  outcome  of 
such  a  line  of  action  would  be  absolute  socialism,  and  capable 
laborers  are  not  prepared  to  take  the  consequences  of  such  an 
experiment.  Any  attempt  at  legislative  interference  with  the 
rate  of  wages  is  fraught  with  serious  consequences  to  the  thrifty, 
industrious  and  capable  workmen,  who  make  up  the  rank  and 
file  of  the  industrial  army,  but  whom  sentimental  reformers  too 
often  lose  sight  of.  Fix  a  living  wage  by  statute,  and  you  place 
the  incapable,  who  do  not  earn  that  rate,  on  the  shoulders  of 
the  more  efficient,  and  without  their  consent  bid  them  carry  the 
burden.  But  this  injustice  to  the  sturdy  and  steady  laborers  is 
not  the  only  one  incident  to  such  action.  The  number  of  capi- 
talists willing  to  hire  the  inefficient  will  be  diminished  and  the 
price  of  commodities  will  be  advanced.  It  is  vain  and  delusive 
to  look  to  legislative  enactment  for  relief  from  the  disastrous 
effect  of  competition  among  workmen.  England  attempted  in 
past  centuries  to  fix  a  minimum  wage,  but  the  growth  of  indus- 
trial liberty  and  freedom  of  contract  burst  these  bands  which  in- 
terfered with  economic  development.  To  return  to  these  crude 
methods  would  be  retrogression,  and  none  would  resent  it  more 
vehemently  than  the  efficient  producers  in  the  ranks  of  laborers. 


60  THE   ANTHRACITE    COAL    INDUSTRY. 

The  better  and  the  surer  way  is  the  cooperation  of  the  work- 
men for  self-help.  Miners  can  form  an  association  and  thus  ef- 
fectually enforce  their  claim  to  a  just  share  in  the  wealth  pro- 
duced. But  in  pressing  their  claims,  workingmen  should 
remember  that  there  is  a  point  beyond  which  they  cannot  go. 
There  are  other  claimants  whose  demands  must  be  satisfied 
else  industrial  activity  is  not  possible.  Capital  consumed  in 
production  must  be  replaced;  interest  must  be  paid;  land- 
owners must  get  royalties  to  compensate  them  for  depreciation 
of  valuable  property ;  business  ability  and  energy  essential  to 
the  organization  and  management  of  the  mining  industry  must 
be  rewarded.  All  these  demands  must  be  satisfied  if  mining 
operations  are  to  be  carried  on.  But  laborers  in  demanding 
their  share  of  the  wealth  produced  can  present  a  solid  front, 
and  defeat  the  unscrupulous  operator  who  is  ever  ready  to  avail 
himself  of  disorganized  workmen,  to  cut  down  prices  and  to  pay 
starvation  wages.  Intelligent  and  persistent  combination  among 
miners  for  the  maintenance  of  prices  and  rates  of  wages  will 
secure  them  a  just  share  of  the  product,  while  at  the  same  time 
it  defends  them  from  the  objectionable  tendency  to  regard  labor 
as  a  commodity,  subject  to  the  unrestrained  operation  of  the 
law  of  supply  and  demand.  Legislative  interference  has  often 
resulted  in  evils  which  were  not  foreseen  ;  intelligent  cooperation 
of  workmen  for  self-help  seldom  comes  short  of  effecting  its 
object.  No  one  can  help  the  miner  as  can  the  miner  himself, 
and  a  free  association  governed  by  intelligence,  far-sightedness 
and  justice,  can  do  more  to  secure  an  equitable  distribution  of 
the  wealth  produced  in  the  anthracite  coal  fields  than  any  ap- 
peal to  State  interference. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

TRANSPORTATION. 

1.  EARLY  MEANS  OP  TRANSPORTATION.  2.  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OP  THE 
RAILROADS.  3.  ATTEMPTS  AT  REGULATING  PRODUCTION.  4.  TRANS- 
PORTATION RATES  AND  PROFITS.  5.  THE  CLAIMS  OP  "  COMMUNITY  OF 
INTERESTS."  

In  1840,  Scranton  was  three  days'  journey  from  New  York 
City  ;  to-day  it  is  only  four  hours  and  a  half.  Every  branch 
of  human  industry  has  felt  this  great  change  in  the  means  of 
transportation,  and  especially  was  this  the  case  in  the  develop- 
ment of  canals  and  railways,  whereby  the  production  of  the 
anthracite  coal  mines  could  be  brought  to  the  cities  and  towns  of 
the  eastern  and  middle  states.  The  object  of  this  chapter  is  to 
trace  the  development  of  these  means  of  transportation,  and  to 
show  their  relation  to  the  anthracite  coal  industry. 

The  most  difficult  problem  which  confronted  the  pioneer  oper- 
ators in  anthracite  mining,  was  that  of  transportation.  To  mine 
coal  was  comparatively  easy,  but  to  get  the  product  to  market  was 
a  problem  which  taxed  the  energies  of  these  men  beyond  what  we 
can  now-a-days  imagine.  Much  money  and  time  and  labor  were 
lost  before  it  was  successfully  solved,  and  many  of  the  men  who 
conducted  these  experiments  reaped  nothing  from  their  efforts 
but  financial  ruin  and  disappointment.  To  induce  capitalists  to 
build  these  railroads  and  canals,  there  must  have  been  a  pros- 
pect of  great  and  enduring  profits. 

Especially  must  this  have  been  the  case  in  the  early  years  of 
mining,  when  men  were  uncertain  as  to  the  foundation  upon 
which  they  built.  There  are  at  present  some  ten  railroads 
transferring  coal  from  the  anthracite  fields  to  market,  most  of 
which  depend  on  this  commodity  for  their  profits.  The  stocks 
of  these  roads  stand  high  in  the  market,  because  there  is  a 
plentiful  supply  of  anthracite  for  generations  to  come,  whereby 

61 


62  THE   ANTHRACITE   COAL   INDUSTRY. 

they  may  hope  to  reap  profits  by  transportation.  The  report 
of  the  Secretary  of  Internal  Affairs  of  the  State  of  Pennsyl- 
vania for  the  year  1897-1898,  shows  how  dependent  the  rail- 
roads of  the  State  are  on  the  product  of  the  mines.  In  that 
year,  out  of  the  363,398,410  tons  of  freight  handled,  229,585,- 
840  tons  were  the  produce  of  the  mines  of  the  State  :  they  fur- 
nished 63.2  per  cent,  of  the  total  tonnage.  (Pp,  16-17.)  The 
directors  of  the  Reading  railroad  felt  in  1894  that  an  effort 
should  be  made  to  divert  the  traffic  of  their  road  from  being 
exclusively  dependent  on  coal ;  and  after  six  years'  effort,  they 
had  succeeded  in  changing  it  only  7.58  per  cent.  When  the 
coal  trade  was  suspended  for  five  weeks,  in  the  fall  of  last  year 
(1 900),  it  resulted  in  a  loss  of  $1,200,000  to  the  Lehigh  Valley 
railroad.  The  financial  prosperity  of  these  lines  rests  on  the 
anthracite  coal  fields. 

EARLY   MEANS   OF   TRANSPORTATION. 

We  have  seen  how  the  Wurts  Bros,  hauled  coal  in  wagons 
from  their  Carbondale  mines  to  Lacka waxen,  and  transported 
it  thence  by  water  to  Philadelphia.  That  was  the  method  used 
by  the  Delaware  and  Hudson  Canal  Co.  when  first  the  canal  was 
opened,  and  before  the  gravity  road  was  completed  between 
Carbondale  and  Honesdale.  Teams  charged  for  hauling  a  ton 
of  coal  for  13  miles,  $2.25  when  sledges  could  be  used,  and 
$2.50  in  wagons. 

The  directors  of  the  company  attracted  sufficient  capital  to 
build  the  gravity  road,  by  showing  that  the  cost  of  transportation 
would  be  reduced  nine-tenths,  or  brought  down  to  an  average  of 
about  two  cents  per  ton-mile.  As  the  production  of  the  mines 
increased  it  was  reduced  to  one  cent.  This  conservative  com- 
pany adhered  to  the  gravity  railroad  and  canal  as  means  of  trans- 
portation until  the  year  1896-7.  At  that  time  both  were  aban- 
doned and  all  its  coal  is  now  shipped  to  market  by  rail.  In  the 
following  year  the  profits  of  the  Delaware  and  Hudson  Canal  Co. 
increased  by  $1,076,124,  which  was  largely  due  to  that  change- 
r  In  the  lower  section  of  the  Wyoming  coal  field  the  Susque- 
'thanna  River  was  regarded  as  an  available  means  of  transport- 


TRANSPORTATION.  63 

ing  coal  to  market,  and  many  attempts  were  made  at  an  early  date 
to  construct  rafts  to  convey  the  commodity  to  Philadelphia  and 
Baltimore.  That  was  the  way  the  Smith  Bros,  sent  50  tons  to 
market  in  1807.  Sanguine  capitalists  in  Wilkes-Barre  thought 
it  possible  to  construct  an  inland  harbor  there,  and  build  boats 
for  the  anticipated  trade ;  but  their  enthusiasm  was  quenched, 
as  their  initial  attempt  was  wrecked  on  the  first  voyage.  In 
1835  the  "  Susquehanna  "  came  to  the  above  town  from  Owego. 
It  was  built  at  a  cost  of  $13,000  and  designed  expressly  for  the 
coal  trade,  but  on  its  second  trip  it  was  wrecked  at  the  Nan- 
ticoke  Dam.  In  1826,  a  steamboat,  the  "  Codorus,"  came  to 
Wilkes-Barre  from  York  Haven.  It  travelled  at  the  rate  of 
four  miles  an  hour.  After  one  trip  the  captain  reported  that 
it  was  a  failure.  Many  experiments  were  made  in  boats  which 
carried  15  tons  of  coal  and  which  took  five  men  to  handle 
them.  On  their  return  trip  their  rate  of  speed  often  did  not 
exceed  two  miles  an  hour,  and  the  men  frequently  had  to  jump 
into  the  stream  and  help  the  craft  along.  These  experiments  I, 
/continued  until  the  year  1851,  when,  after  a  series  of  disasters, 
all  further  efforts  in  this  direction  were  abandoned. 

The  failure  of  attempts  to  turn  the  streams  to  their  service 
impelled  men  to  seek  relief  in  canals,  and  millions  of  dollars 
were  expended  in  their  construction.  In  the  year  1846,  no 
less  than  643  miles  of  artificial  water-ways  had  been  built,  for 
the  purpose  of  conveying  anthracite  to  the  markets,  represent- 
ing a  capital  of  $22,000,000. 

These  were  not  built  solely  by  individual  capitalists. 

The  State  of  New  York  aided  the  Delaware  and  Hudson 
Canal  Co.  by  two  loans  of  $300,000  and  $200,000  each.  Tb" 
State  of  Pennsylvania  ab^  sided  other  canal  companies  by 
similar  appropriations. 

It  is  interesting  to  notice  that  these  canals  which  were  so 
sorely  needed  did  not  escape  censure  and  opposition.  The  cry 
of  "  monopoly  "  was  raised,  and  the  press  denounced  them  as 
injurious  to  the  public  weal.  Both  press  and  public  in  north- 
eastern Pennsylvania  expressed  such  sentiments  and  vigorously 
opposed  privileges  granted  the  Delaware  and  Hudson  Canal 


64  THE   ANTHKACITE   COAL,   INDUSTEY. 

Co.,  the  Schuylkill  Navigation  Co.,  and  kindred  organizations 
of  capitalists. 

A  writer  in  the  North  American  Review  in  1836  refers 
"  to  the  mad  outcry  against  corporate  investments  of  pro- 
perty, issuing  from  that  extravagant  spirit  of  ultraism  in 
all  things,  good  and  evil,  which  at  this  time  agitates  the 
public  mind  in  one  part  or  another  of  the  United  States." 
He  speaks  of  the  canals  as  "  open  highways,  free  to  all  the 
world,  at  the  regular  rate  of  tolls/7  and  the  benefit  conferred  by 
them  on  the  State  is  pointed  out  in  the  fact,  that  in  the  year 
1835  "the  exports  of  coal  from  Pennsylvania  (was)  not  far 
short  of  half  a  million  of  tons,  bringing  a  return  of  two  mil- 
lions of  dollars  to  that  State,"  upon  which  industry  depended 
"  the  prosperity  of  the  manufactories  of  Lowell,"  Mass. 

The  cost  of  transportation  by  these  canals  varied.     In  1826, 
it  was  1.5  cents  per  ton-mile  ;  in  1843,  1.25  cents  ;  in  1845,  '} 
1  cent. 

When,  in  1846,  the  Schuylkill  Canal  was  enlarged,  so  that 
boats  of  180  tons  capacity  could  be  navigated,  the  expectation 
was  that  the  rates  would  be  lower,  but  that  hope  was  not 
realized.  In  1861  the  cost  per  ton-mile  on  the  Delaware  and 
Hudson  Canal  was  9.4  mills.  In  the  same  year  an  investi- 
gating committee  appointed  by  the  State  of  New  York  com- 
puted rates  on  26  canals,  and  found  that  the  average  was  8.86 
mills  per  ton-mile.  A  special  committee  appointed  by  the 
same  State  in  1865  to  investigate  the  coal  trade,  reports  :  "  the 
mistaken  policy  of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  in  selling  her 
canals,  not  only  placed  herself  at  the  mercy  and  interests  of 
private  corporations,  but  by  this  act  imposed  heavy  burdens 
upon  the  coal  consumers  of  this  and  adjoining  States — they 
being  compelled  to  submit  to  the  combinations  of  companies 
who  connect  the  cheap  with  the  expensive  routes  of  transporta- 
tion. In  justice,  Pennsylvania  should  impose  restrictions  upon 
these  unjust  monopolies." 

The  Legislature  of  Pennsylvania  was,  by  the  pressure  of  public 
sentiment,  moved  to  action  against  these  monopolies.  As  early 
as  1833  an  attempt  was  made  to  restrict  their  rights,  by  limiting 


TRANSPORTATION.  65 

their  powers  to  either  mining  or  transporting  coal,  and  refusing 
to  confer  the  two-fold  character  on  the  same  party.  The  attempt 
was  futile.  The  industry  needed  capital  for  its  development,  and 
men  would  not  risk  their  wealth  unless  they  were  given  rights 
which  would  secure  them  the  largest  possible  returns,  as  well  as 
perfect  control  over  their  property. 

THE    DEVELOPMENT    OF    THE    RAILROADS. 

The  first  railroad  built  in  the  anthracite  coal  fields  was  in 
1832,  by  the  Lehigh  Navigation  Co.,  connecting  its  mines  at 
Summit  Hill  with  the  canal.  After  this  date,  new  lines  were 
annually  built  in  different  parts  of  the  coal  fields,  until  in  1846, 
they  amounted  to  436  miles,  representing  a  capital  of  nearly 
$18,000,000.  In  the  report  of  the  Auditor  General  for  the 
year  1863,  we  have  mention  of  over  a  thousand  miles  of  rail- 
road in  the  anthracite  coal  fields,  representing  a  capital  of  over 
$50,000,000.  In  1873,  the  American  Encyclopaedia  estimated 
the  miles  of  railroad  at  2,290,  representing  a  capital  of  $128,- 
000,000*.  At  present  the  following  railroads  are  more  or  less 
interested  in  the  anthracite  coal  fields,  and  each  of  them  holds 
some  coal  land  :  Delaware,  Lacka wanna  and  Western ;  Delaware 
and  Hudson  ;  Erie  and  Wyoming  Valley  *  ;  Erie  ;  N  ew  York, 
Ontario  and  Western  ;  New  York,  Susquehanna  and  Western  ; 
Delaware,  Susquehanna  and  Schuylkill ;  Pennsylvania ;  Central 
of  New  Jersey ;  Lehigh  Valley ;  and  Philadelphia  and  Reading. 
Each  of  these  has  branches  extending  to  collieries  along  its  main 
line  through  the  coal  fields.  Each  YaHroad  also  extends  be- 
yond the  coal  fields,  so  that  it  is  difficult  to  give  any  accurate 
estimate  of  the  capital  represented  by  them,  directly  connected 
with  anthracite  mining. 

In  the  year  1896,  Wm.  Griffiths,  mining  engineer,  said  that 
96.29  per  cent,  of  all  the  anthracite  coal  fields  were  controlled 
directly  or  indirectly  by  the  railroad  companies.  Since  then, 
they  have  enlarged  their  control,  so  that  virtually  all  the  coal 
fields  are  to-day  in  the  hands  of  the  railroad  corporations  men- 

*This  railroad,  together  with  the  mining  interests  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Coal  Co.,  were  sold  to  the  Erie  Railroad  last  January. 

5 


66  THE  ANTHRACITE   COAL    INDUSTRY. 

tioned  above,  five  of  which  control  90  per  cent,  of  the  total  area. 
The  following  is  the  percentage  controlled  by  the  various  lines 
as  given  by  Mr.  Griffiths  : 

Delaware,  Lackawanna  and  Western  Railroad 6.55  per  cent. 

Pennsylvania  Railroad 6. 24  per  cent. 

Central  Railroad  of  New  Jersey 17.30  per  cent. 

Lehigh  Valley  Railroad 16.87  per  cent. 

Philadelphia  and  Reading  Railroad 42.25  per  cent. 

Delaware  and  Hudson  Canal  Co 2.29  per  cent. 

Erie  and  Wyoming  Valley  Railroad 1.82  per  cent. 

Erie  Railroad 77  per  cent. 

New  York,  Ontario  and  Western  Railroad 28  per  cent. 

New  York,  Susquehanna  and  Western  Railroad 54  per  cent. 

Delaware,  Susquehanna  and  Schuylkill  Railroad 1.38  per  cent. 

Uncontrolled  tonnage 3.71  per  cent. 

Total 100.00  per  cent. 

By  the  financiering  of  J.  P.  Morgan,  at  the  beginning  of  this 
year,  it  is  claimed  that  a  community  of  interests  between  the 
Erie,  the  Erie  and  Wyoming,  the  Lehigh  Valley,  the  Central 
of  New  Jersey  and  the  Philadelphia  and  Reading,  has  been 
brought  about  which  will  give  the  syndicate  control  over  79.01 
per  cent,  of  the  total  contents  of  the  coal  fields. 

In  1846,  the  436  miles  of  railroad  were  owned  by  20  sepa- 
rate companies.  In  1863,  the  1,000  miles  of  railroad  were 
owned  by  18  companies.  In  1872,  six  railroads  had  secured 
sufficient  control  of  the  coal  fields  to  attempt  to  regulate  pro- 
duction and  to  fix  tranportation  rates.  In  1890,  there  were  12 
companies  interested,  but  in  1901  they  have  virtually  been  re- 
duced to  four.  No  one  need  claim  the  title  of  prophet  to  predict 
that  the  anthracite  coal  fields  are  destined  in  the  near  future  to 
come  under  the  control  of  one  hand,  when  all  conflict,  breach 
of  faith,  and  cut-throat  prices  will  have  ceased. 

The  railroads  have  superseded  the  canals.  The  last  of  these 
water-ways  was  abandoned  by  the  Delaware  and  Hudson  Canal 
Co.  four  years  ago.  Transportation  by  rail  is  cheaper,  speedier 
and  open  all  the  year.  The  old  gravity  road  of  the  Delaware 
and  Hudson  Canal  Co.  was  expensive  and  antiquated,  and  the 


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TBA  NSPORT  ATION.  6  7 

same  was  true  of  the  canal.  The  stress  of  competition,  as  well  as 
self-interest,  led  the  company  to  make  a  change,  which,  though 
it  involved  great  expenditure,  brought  quick  returns. 

For  many  years  the  Eeading  Kailroad  found  a  strong  com- 
petitor in  the  Schuylkill  Canal,  but  in  1870  it  leased  that 
water-way  and  thus  removed  its  rival  from  the  field. 

The  process  of  consolidating  the  several  small  railroads  has 
been  the  work  of  years.  The  example  of  the  Delaware,  Lacka- 
wanna  and  Western,  which  effected  this  by  1881,  is  typical.  In 
1851  the  Lackawanna  and  Western  Kailroad  from  Scran  ton  to 
Great  Bend  was  chartered,  and  known  as  the  northern  division. 
In  1849  the  Delaware  and  Copp's  Gap  Railroad  was  chartered, 
and  known  as  the  southern  division,  extending  from  Scranton  to 
Delaware  River.  In  1852,  the  Bloomsburg  division  was  con- 
structed from  Scranton  to  Sunbury.  In  1853  the  northern  and 
southern  divisions  were  consolidated  under  the  name  of  the 
Delaware,  Lackawanna  and  Western  Railroad.  In  1856  the 
Warren  Railroad,  extending  from  the  Delaware  River  to  a 
junction  with  the  Central  Railroad  of  New  Jersey,  was  leased. 
In  1868  the  Morris  and  Essex  Railroad  was  leased,  which, 
with  the  Warren  Railroad,  brought  the  company's  line  to  the 
Hudson  River.  In  1855  a  perpetual  lease  was  taken  of  the 
Cayuga  and  Susquehanna  Railroad.  In  1869  control  was  ob- 
tained of  the  Syracuse,  Binghamton  and  New  York  Railroad 
by  purchasing  a  major  part  of  its  stock.  In  1873  the  Dela- 
ware, Lackawanna  and  Western  and  the  Bloomsburg  companies 
were  consolidated.  In  1881  control  was  obtained  of  the  Sussex 
Railroad  by  purchasing  a  major  part  of  its  stock,  and  in  the 
following  year  a  lease  was  taken  of  the  New  York,  Lackawanna 
and  Western  Railroad,  which  brought  the  company  to  Buffalo. 

Thus  was  evolved  a  strong  railroad  company,  operating  about 
900  miles  of  railroad,  and  capable  of  meeting  the  requirements 
of  the  anthracite  coal  trade  of  the  Wyoming  and  Lackawanna 
Valleys. 

The  Lehigh  Valley  also  in  the  Middle  coal  field  conducted 
the  process  of  consolidation  about  the  same  time. 

In  the  year  1861,  the  Reading  Railroad  began  to  absorb  the 


68  THE    ANTHRACITE   COAL    INDUSTRY. 

small  lines  in  Schuylkill  county,  and  about  the  same  time  it 
frustrated  the  attempt  of  individual  operators  to  build  an  inde- 
pendent line  to  tide-water,  by  securing  control  of  the  stock. 
In  the  year  1871  this  company,  after  thirty  years  of  life  as  a 
carrier  only,  resolved  to  enter  into  the  business  of  mining  coal, 
and  bought  100,000  acres  of  coal  land  for  $40,000,000.  In 
1873  it  loaned  $800,000  to  individual  operators  who  were  in 
financial  distress  because  of  industrial  friction  and  competition. 
The  Reading  ultimately  bought  out  the  interests  of  these  men. 

The  policy  of  the  railroads  at  this  time  was  expressed  by  a 
writer  in  the  Pottsville  Miners  Journal  of  Dec.,  1868,  who  said 
"  the  carrier,  it  would  appear,  ought  to  be  master  of  the  situa- 
tion and  not  the  victim  of  vascillating  circumstances."  Others, 
however,  held  a  different  opinion,  for  in  the  issue  of  Nov.  21, 
1868,  of  the  same  periodical,  a  writer,  referring  to  the  dullness 
of  the  coal  trade  in  Schuylkill  county,  attributes  it  to  the  action 
of  the  Reading  :  "  It  is  simply  because  we  are  bound  down  by 
an  immense  corporation  which  is  endeavoring  to  wind  its  coils 
around  our  limbs  and  hold  us  in  complete  bondage,  while  it  eats 
out  all  our  substance."  The  complainant  might  have  con- 
soled himself  with  the  fact  that  the  corporation  in  the  pursuit 
of  such  a  policy  ruined  itself. 

In  the  business  of  transportation,  the  aim  is  to  reduce  the 
cost  as  much  as  possible.  This  was  the  aim  of  the  old  canal 
companies  in  enlarging  their  boats  from  50  tons  capacity  to  300. 
This  was  done  by  the  Schuylkill  Canal  Co.  in  1846,  and  by  the 
Delaware  and  Hudson  Canal  Co.  in  1849.  The  same  aim 
governs  the  action  of  railroad  carriers.  In  the  early  years  of  rail- 
road transportation,  the  cars  called  "  jimmies,"  only  carried  12,- 
000  pounds.  The  first  engine  the  Delaware,  Lackawanna  and 
Western  put  on  the, road  in  1853,  the  "Spitfire,"  cost  in  oper- 
ating expenses,  11.28  cents  per  mile.  As  stronger  and  better 
engines  were  built,  the  " jimmies"  gave  way  to  gondolas,  with 
a  capacity  of  from  60,000  to  80,000  pounds.  Still  larger 
engines  have  been  built,  which  the  employes  have  dubbed 
"  hogs,"  and  steel  gondolas  have  been  introduced  with  a  capa- 
city of  100,000  pounds.  The  old  engines  drew  from  eight  to 


TRANSPORTATION.  69 

ten  gondolas  of  80,000  pounds  capacity,  but  the  "hogs" 
draw  from  thirteen  to  sixteen  of  them.  The  use  of  the  air- 
brake has  also  reduced  the  number  of  employes  necessary  to 
handle  the  larger  trip  of  cars  taken  to  tide-water.  The  object 
is  to  cut  down  transportation  expenses  in  carrying  anthracite 
coal  to  market. 

ATTEMPTS    AT   REGULATING   PRODUCTION. 

When  the  production  of  the  mines  reached  a  magnitude  which 
proved  profitable  to  carriers,  rivalry  between  the  transporting 
companies  began,  and  from  the  forties  on  we  find  some  of  the 
railroad  companies  pleading  for  a  common  understanding,  in 
order  that  the  markets  might  not  be  glutted,  and  that  prices 
might  be  kept  at  remunerative  points.  The  difficulty  in  reach- 
ing a  common  understanding  has  always  lain  in  the  fact  that  the 
capacity  of  the  mines  was  greater  than  the  market  demand  at 
profitable  rates.  When  the  carriers  were  free  to  act  as  they  chose, 
each  was  eager  to  increase  its  profits,  and  did  so  by  furnishing  all 
the  cars  needed  by  individual  operators.  The  inevitable  result  was 
over-production  and  a  fall  in  prices  which  reduced  the  profits  of 
both  operators  and  carriers.  In  the  year  1895  free  competition 
among  the  carriers  reduced  their  returns  by  over  $4,000,000. 
During  the  last  sixty  years  free  competition  and  regulation  of 
production  have  succeeded  each  other,  and  the  ruinous  effect 
of  the  former  has  been  the  cause  of  the  latter.  In  the  fifties 
and  sixties  sectional  rivalries  prevailed.  The  southern  and 
northern  operators  competed  for  the  markets  of  the  East,  and 
the  spirited  rivalry  which  existed  between  them  engendered 
much  antagonism. 

From  1868  to  1875  the  presence  of  a  common  foe  which  dis- 
regarded the  boundary  line  between  the  Northern  and  Southern 
coal  fields  brought  the  operators  together.  In  1868-1870  the 
mine  employes  were  organized  and  for  half  a  decade  the  Work- 
man's Benevolent  Association  flourished.  But  as  soon  as  that 
organization  was  dissolved  the  operators'  association  was  also 
disbanded,  and  the  years  1876-1877  were  years  of  competi- 
tion. In  1878  an  agreement  was  effected  which  lasted  for 


70  THE   ANTHRACITE   COAL    INDUSTRY. 

five  years,  followed  again  in  1883-4  by  free  competition.  In 
1885  the  carriers  tried  another  agreement  which  lasted  until 
1887,  when  the  Inter-state  Commerce  Law  dissolved  it,  and 
competition  again  held  sway.  In  1892,  the  M'Leod  scheme 
of  consolidation  was  launched,  which  failed  after  eighteen 
months7  trial  because  of  the  financial  inability  of  the  Reading 
to  carry  it  out,  and  again  competition  came  into  play.  In  1896 
the  companies  again  came  to  an  agreement,  which  has  culmi- 
nated in  the  syndicate  formed  at  the  beginning  of  this  year, 
and  which  controls  about  79  per  cent,  of  the  coal  land.  The 
disastrous  effect  of  free  competition  is  apparent  in  the  history 
of  the  financial  difficulties  of  the  Reading  Railroad,  which  has 
passed  into  the  hands  of  receivers  four  times  during  the  last 
twenty  years,  each  date  bearing  close  connection  with  the 
periods  of  free  competition,  as  may  be  seen  from  the  following  : 

Years  of  Free  Competition.  Years  of  Reading  Bankruptcy. 

1876-1877  1880 

1883-1884  1884 

1893-1895  1893  and  1896. 

The  disastrous  effects  of  competition  have  been  set  forth  by 
Jos.  S.  Harris  and  A.  A.  M'Leod  in  the  Forum  (Vol.  13). 
The  last  named  gentleman  denied  that  the  attempt  at  con- 
solidation in  1892  was  a  trust.  He  claimed  it  was  rather  a 
step  forward  in  national  progress  in  the  problem  of  transpor- 
tation, upon  which  the  prosperity  of  the  country  largely  de- 
pends. Mr.  M'Leod  said  that  competition  between  the  several 
railroads  was  not  very  keen;  they  were  in  close  touch  with 
each  other  ;  but  the  individual  operators  and  the  corporations 
entered  into  spirited  competition  in  producing  and  selling  coal. 

The  first  attempt  among  operators  to  seek  community  of  in- 
terests TTnTga-femtr  \t\  j$49T  the  year  when  the  .Bates '  Union 
among  the  miners  of  Schuylkill  county  flourished.  In  March 
and  July  of  that  year,  the  operators  met  in  Pottsville.  The 
object  was  to  fix  the  prices  at  which  coal  should  be  sold  at  Port 
Carbon.  To  maintain  these  prices — $2.25  for  Red  Ash  and 
$2.00  for  White  Ash — they  resolved  that  all  shipment  of  coal 
should  cease  for  three  weeks,  beginning  March  19th.  All  the 


TRANSPORTATION.  71 

members  signed  the  agreement  before  they  left  the  room.  In 
the  month  of  July  following,  signs  of  dissolution  were  apparent, 
and  strenuous  efforts  were  made  to  perpetuate  the  organization. 
In  November,  1850,  they  met  again  for  the  purpose  of  adjusting 
prices  and  securing  better  accommodation  for  the  handling  of 
coal  at  the  wharfs. 

In  1856  another  attempt  was  made  to  organize  the  operators 
of  Schuylkill  county,  who  were  hard  pressed  by  the  operators 
of  the  Northern  coal  field.  In  the  following  year,  the  Coal 
Association  sought  relief  from  the  pending  ruin  of  the  coal  trade 
by  placing  John  Tucker,  President  of  the  Philadelphia  and 
Eeading  Kailroad,  at  its  head.  In  1859  the  individual  opera- 
tors, crushed  between  competition  and  high  transportation  rates, 
again  tried  organization  ;  but  most  of  them  were  unable  to  stem 
the  opposing  currents. 

Schuylkill  county,  at  this  time,  was  afflicted  by  the  "  Mollie 
Maguires,"  and  many  individual  operators  could  not  say  their 
collieries  were  their  own  ;  the  "  Mollies  "  by  intimidation  and 
violence  ruled,  and  a  reign  of  terror  prevailed  in  many  localities. 
Competition,  high  railroad  charges,  and  labor  troubles  made  it 
impossible  for  individual  operators  in  the  Schuylkill  region  to 
conduct  operations,  and  most  of  them  sold  out  in  the  sixties. 

From  1868  to  1875  the  Workingmen's  Benevolent  Asso- 
ciation took  in  the  whole  of  the  anthracite  coal  fields.  All  the 
employes  were  united,  their  representatives  met  in  convention 
and  drafted  a  list  of  grievances  which  were  presented  to  all  the 
operators  in  the  anthracite  regions.  The  presence  of  a  common 
foe  brought  together  the  rival  operators  and  carriers,  who  had 
hitherto  antagonized  each  other.  They  combined  against  a 
common  enemy,  and  in  March,  1869,  the  different  carrying 
companies  met  in  New  York  City,  for  the  first  time,  to  fix 
rates.  In  November  following,  the  Anthracite  Board  of  Trade 
was  organized  in  Schuylkill  county,  whose  object  was  to  deal 
with  the  representatives  of  the  Workingmen's  Benevolent 
Association  and  adjust  prices. 

This  organization  acted  in  conjunction  with  some  of  the 
operators  of  the  Northern  coal  field,  but  the  old  antagonism 


72  THE   ANTHRACITE   COAL   INDUSTRY. 

between  rival  mining  companies  prevented  perfect  understand- 
ing, and  in  May,  1870,  the  association  passed  a  vote  of  censure 
on  the  action  of  the  Pennsylvania  Coal  Co.  in  conceding  to  the 
demand  of  the  miners.  During  these  years,  notwithstanding 
the  fact  that  the  operators  felt  the  need  of  united  action,  their 
anxiety  to  turn  their  neighbor's  difficulties  to  their  own  profit, 
induced  many  of  them  to  conciliate  their  employes  by  offering 
liberal  terms  to  them.  The  Delaware,  Lacka wanna  and  West- 
ern, the  Delaware  and  Hudson,  and  the  Pennsylvania  Coal  Co., 
acted  in  concert  in  the  Northern  field,  but  these  companies  did 
not  consult  the  wishes  of  the  operators  in  the  Southern  and  Mid- 
dle fields  when  they  effected  an  agreement  with  their  employes. 
The  Lehigh  and  Wilkes-Barre  Coal  Co.  acted  in  conjunction 
with  the  Schuylkill  operators.  This  explains  the  two  systems 
of  wages  which  prevailed  in  the  anthracite  coal  fields  till  the  last 
strike. 

The  operators  in  the  Southern  and  Middle  coal  fields  as  well 
as  the  Lehigh  and  Wilkes-Barre  Coal  Co.  in  the  Middle  and 
Northern  coal  fields  effected  a  settlement  with  their  men  on  a 
sliding  scale,  based  on  the  price  of  coal  at  different  centers  where 
the  commodity  was  sold  ;  the  three  companies  in  the  Northern 
field  settled  with  their  men  by  paying  them  so  much  per  car  for 
mining  coal.  This  shows  how  the  operators  were  divided.  Up 
to  the  seventies  there  were  too  many  individual  operators,  dom- 
inated by  self-interest,  to  make  a  community  of  interests  pos- 
sible. But  the  work  of  consolidation  was  making  rapid  strides. 

In  1867  the  Delaware  and  Hudson  Canal  Co.  bought  out 
the  interests  of  the  Union  Coal  Co.  for  the  consideration  of 
$1,575,000.  The  Lehigh  Valley,  about  the  same  time,  got 
control  of  many  individual  collieries  in  the  Wyoming  Val- 
ley, while  the  same  company,  together  with  the  Pennsylvania 
railroad,  were  rivals  in  securing  coal  land  and  in  absorbing  or 
controling  independent  collieries  in  the  Southern  and  Middle 
coal  fields.  In  Schuylkill  county  the  Reading  had  done  the 
same,  so  that  by  1870,  according  to  the  statement  of  the  Potts- 
ville  Journal,  75  per  cent,  of  the  collieries  of  the  county  was 
under  its  control. 


TRANSPORTATION.  73 

The  leading  railroads  in  the  latter  sixties  and  early  seven- 
ties felt  that  their  interests  necessitated  an  understanding  as  to 
the  amount  of  coal  to  be  carried  to  market.  These  were  years 
replete  with  labor  troubles,  and  local  associations  of  operators 
in  the  Southern  and  Northern  fields  were  wrestling  with  their 
employes,  who  precipitated  strike  after  strike,  because  of  mis- 
understandings. It  was  apparent  to  all  that  some  general  un- 
derstanding was  needed,  for  the  rivalries  of  operators  and  the 
cunning  devices  to  which  they  resorted  to  increase  their  pro- 
duction were  demoralizing  and  ruinous.  Hence,  in  1872,  the 
carriers  effected  an  agreement  which  lasted  until  the  year  1875. 
That  year  the  Workingmen's  Benevolent  Association  dissolved, 
and,  with  the  disappearance  of  the  common  enemy,  the  old 
rivalries  between  operators  reappeared,  and  the  carriers7  agree- 
ment as  well  as  the  local  combinations  of  employers  were  aban- 
doned. Since  then  agreement  after  agreement  has  been  entered 
into,  each  in  turn  to  be  broken  by  bad  faith  on  the  part  of 
some  of  the  carrying  companies.  During  the  Presidency  of 
Mr.  Roberts  over  the  Pennsylvania  railroad,  that  line  generally 
acted  independently,  and  sent  to  market  a  larger  tonnage  than 
its  importance  in  the  anthracite  coal  fields  warranted.  For 
over  twenty-five  years  (1864-1890)  the  company,  to  the  grati- 
fication and  profit  of  its  employes,  operated  its  two  collieries  in 
Lykens  Valley  almost  full  time,  producing  annually  for  the 
major  part  of  that  period  about  500,000  tons  of  coal. 

Each  one  of  the  railroads,  excepting  the  Reading,  has  been 
guilty  of  breach  of  faith  in  shipping  more  than  the  percentage 
assigned  it  by  the  combination.  The  futile  attempts  at  regu- 
lating production  clearly  indicate  that  it  is  only  possible  by 
centralization  of  control,  and  this  is  the  result  to  which  events 
have  led.  The  present  syndicate  is  only  the  natural  result  of 
the  experience  of  anthracite  transporting  companies  for  the  last 
half  century. 

The  basis  on  which  the  amount  to  be  produced  is  allotted  to 
the  several  railroads  is  the  capacity  of  the  plants  under  their 
several  control.  If  one  railroad  has  under  its  control  plants 
capable  of  producing  1,000,000  tons  a  month,  and  another  car- 


74 


THE   ANTHRACITE   COAL    INDUSTRY. 


rier  only  controls  mines  with  a  capacity  of  500,000  tons  a 
month,  the  allotment  of  the  first  would  be  double  that  of  the 
second.  When  the  allotment  has  been  assigned  to  a  railroad, 
the  individual  operator  in  its  territory  is  assigned  his  quota  of 
cars  according  to  the  capacity  of  the  plant  operated  by  him. 

The  following  table  shows  the  shipment  and  allotment  of 
the  several  roads  for  the  years  specified  : 


Railroad. 

Shipment  of 
1895. 

Allotment  of 
1896. 

Allotment  of 

1898. 

Shipment  of 
1898. 

Shipment 
of  1900. 

P.  &K. 

21.47% 

20.50% 

20.50% 

19.62& 

20.70% 

L.  V. 

15.81 

15.65 

15.65 

16.43 

15.32 

C.  of  N.  J. 

11.51 

11.70 

11.70 

11.04 

11.77 

D.  L.  &  W. 

13.16 

13.35 

13.35 

13.83 

13.33 

D.  &H. 

9.34 

9.60 

9.60 

9.29 

8.81 

Pa. 

10.59 

11.40 

11.40 

11.46 

11.46 

E.  &W. 

3.75 

4.00 

4.00 

4.43 

4.64 

Erie. 

3.91 

4.00 

4.00 

3.81 

3.86 

N.  Y.  O.  &  W. 

3.06 

3.10 

3.10 

3.27 

3.68 

D.  S.  &  Sch. 

4.11 

3.50 

3.50 

3.71 

3.48 

N.  Y.  S.  &  W. 

3.02 

3.20 

3.20 

3.11 

2.95 

TRANSPORTATION   RATES. 

The  one  factor  which  has  drawn  these  companies  together  to 
regulate  production  is  the  hope  of  increased  profits ;  and  this 
same  desire,  by  transgressing  the  boundary  lines  laid  down  by 
the  combination,  has  disrupted  the  organization.  When  pro- 
duction was  curtailed  and  prices  advanced,  the  temptation  to 
reap  large  profits  while  prices  were  high  led  each  line,  with 
the  exception  of  the  Reading,  to  a  breach  of  faith. 

The  profits  reaped  by  railroads  have  been  great  when  they 
have  been  able  to  maintain  prices.  Free  competition  in  1877- 
79  brought  down  prices  from  $4.18  a  ton  to  $2.55  and  $2.60. 
In  1884-85  prices  came  down  $1.00  a  ton,  and  preceding  the 
M'Leod  attempt  at  combination,  coal  was  sold  at  $3.10  a  ton. 
In  1895  it  was  down  to  $3.08.  When  we  remember  that  the 
cost  of  mining  and  royalty,  etc.,  is  about  $1.70  a  ton,  the  profits 
during  these  years  of  competition  were  not  large.  But  in  the 
years  of  curtailment  of  production,  prices  were  between  $4.00 
and  $5.00  a  ton,  which  increased  the  returns  of  the  companies 
on  an  average  of  over  $1.00  a  ton. 

It  has  been  affirmed  that  the  railroads  can  raise  prices  as  they 


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TRANSPORTATION.  75 

choose,  when  an  understanding  prevails.  A.  A.  M'Leod  said 
that  this  is  a  mistake,  for  the  presence  of  bituminous  coal  "  in 
every  market  operates  as  a  prohibition  upon  any  unreasonable 
advance  in  the  price  of  anthracite  coal,  even  if  the  power  and 
disposition  to  make  such  an  advance,  existed." 

Railroads  have  two  methods  of  dealing  with  individual  oper- 
ators; they  eimef  buy  their  production  at  the  breaker,  giving 
them  a  stated  price  per  ton  or  a  percentage  of  tide- water  prices, 
or  they'carry  their  coal  to  market  at  certain  rates  which  vary 
with  the  seasons. 

The  individual  operator  has  always  fought  for  low  transporta- 
tion rates  to  market.  In  1850  the  railroads  charged  $  1.70  a  ton 
to  New  York  City,  and  the  operators  fought  for  $1 .60,  and  bitterly 
complained  of  unjust  distribution  of  cars.  When,  in  the  year 
1868,  coal  advanced  7 5  cents  a  ton  in  the  market,  the  railroads 
took  40  cents  of  it  by  advancing  the  rates.  During  that  year 
the  Reading  Railroad  advanced  transportation  rates  52  cents  a 
ton.  In  the  year  1869  this  same  railroad  charged  $2.43  a  ton 
for  a  distance  of  93  miles,  or  an  average  of  2.61  cents  a  ton- 
mile  ;  and  the  president  of  this  company  testified  before  an  in- 
vestigating committee  of  the  State  legislature,  that  the  railroad 
advanced  rates  from  $2.08  to  $4.08  and  as  high  as  $6.08  in  a 
few  days,  for  93  miles,  between  Port  Carbon  and  Philadelphia. 
Mr.  Gowan  justified  this,  by  stating  that  according  to  the  de- 
cision of  the  courts  of  the  State,  the  railroad  company  had  a 
right  to  charge  any  sum  it  pleased. 

Before  the  same  legislative  committee,  an  officer  of  the  Dela- 
ware, Lackawanna  and  Western  Railroad  testified  that  they 
had  charged  $2.00  a  ton  for  9  miles  distance,  or  an  average 
of  22.22  cents  per  ton-mile. 

The  receipts  of  some  of  the  companies  show  how  profitable  is 
the  carrying  trade.  We  saw  how  the  Delaware  &  Hudson 
cleared  all  its  indebtedness  within  ten  years  after  its  gravity 
road  and  canal  were  opened.  In  1869  the  same  company  paid 
11 J  per  cent,  on  its  capital  stock.  In  1870  the  Delaware, 
Lackawanna  and  Western  paid  16  per  cent,  dividends  to  its 
stockholders.  In  1865  its  capital  stock  was  estimated  at 


76  THE   ANTHRACITE   COAL   INDUSTRY. 

f  10, 247,050.  During  the  following  six  years,  according  to 
the  testimony  of  the  chief  clerk  of  the  company  before  an 
investigating  committee,  the  stockholders  had  realized  in  re- 
turns a  sum  aggregating  $9,307,174.69.  And  the  high  quo- 
tations of  the  stock  of  this  company  during  recent  years,  prove 
that  its  profits  are  still  large.  The  Delaware  &  Hudson  earned 
9.16  per  cent,  on  its  capital  stock  in  1900.  In  1898  the  Del- 
aware, Lackawanna  &  Western  realized  on  the  transportation 
of  coal  11.62  mills  per  ton-mile,  and  in  1899,  9.46  mills.  It 
is  stated  that  railroad  companies  do  not  make  money  on  their 
mining  operations,  but  that  the  returns  on  freight  recoup  them. 
In  1898,  the  Delaware,  Lackawanna  &  Western  lost  $1,726,093 
on  its  mining  operations,  but,  in  1899,  it  realized  a  profit  on 
them  of  $904,173.  The  Pennsylvania  Coal  Co.,  in  1899,  lost 
$400,000  on  its  mining  operations  and  still  it  was  recently  able 
to  sell  its  coal  land  and  mining  plants,  at  a  higher  figure  than 
was  ever  before  paid  for  such  properties  in  the  anthracite  coal 
fields.  Railroads  such  as  the  Reading  suffer  from  over-capi- 
talization ;  for  thirty  years  this  road  kept  strictly  to  its  trans- 
portation duties,  but  when  the  Lehigh  Valley  and  the  Pennsyl- 
vania threatened  to  invade  its  territory,  its  only  hope  of  existence 
was  to  enter  into  the  mining  industry. 

During  its  eventful  career  in  the  industry  it  has  suffered 
from  what  Paul  de  Rosiers  has  called  "  me'galomanie,"  and 
under  the  excitement  of  this  disease,  it  bought  hundreds  of  acres 
of  (coal)  land  which  did  not  contain  a  pound  of  coal. 

The  rates  paid  by  the  railroads  to  the  individual  operators 
computed  in  percentage  on  tide- water  prices  were  :  before  1892, 
50  per  cent.  ;  in  1892  M'Leod  raised  it  to  60  per  cent. ;  and  in 
the  agreement  made  between  J.  P.  Morgan  and  the  individual 
operators  last  October  the  rates  were  advanced  to  65  per  cent. 
Under  these  rates  it  is  more  profitable  for  the  individual  operator 
to  sell  his  production  at  the  breaker  to  the  railroad  company  than 
pay  freight  rates  and  personally  sell  the  commodity  in  the  markets. 

The  carriers  of  coal  have  not  had  their  own  way.  The  legis- 
latures of  New  York  and  Pennsylvania  have  frequently  con- 
ducted investigations  into  their  transactions,  and  passed  laws 


TRANSPORTATION.  77 

to  restrain  their  greed  or  make  their  combinations  illegal.  In 
1865  a  legislative  committee  from  Albany  investigated  railroad 
charges,  and  showed  that  they  had,  during  the  years  1861-64, 
advanced  prices  145  per  cent.  It  raised  a  warning  voice 
against  the  monopolizing  of  the  carrying  routes  to  market.  In 
1871  a  legislative  committee  of  Pennsylvania  investigated  the 
consolidation  effected  by  the  Keading,  and  took  testimony  from 
other  carrying  companies.  In  1873  the  constitution  of  the 
State  was  revised,  and  a  clause  inserted  prohibiting  the  grant- 
ing of  mining  and  carrying  privileges  to  the  same  company. 
But  the  evil  was  done  in  former  years  and  was  then  past 
redemption.  In  1885  a  law  was  passed  making  it  unlawful 
for  railroad  companies  to  lease  their  collieries  to  other  com- 
panies. In  the  same  year  the  Attorney  General  of  Pennsyl- 
vania brought  suit  against  the  combination  on  the  plea  that 
canals  and  railroads  should  be  public  highways  and  all  railroads 
and  canal  companies  common  carriers.  In  1887  the  Inter-state 
Commerce  law  was  passed,  and  the  legislatures  of  both  New 
York  and  Pennsylvania  again  investigated  the  combination 
which  then  existed.  In  1892  suit  was  brought  against  the 
bold  scheme  of  M'Leod  to  combine  the  anthracite-carrying 
companies,  and  a  few  years  later  a  legislative  committee  of 
Pennsylvania  investigated  the  methods  of  business  of  the  anth- 
racite railroad  companies.  In  1897  the  Attorney  General  of 
New  York  tried  to  compel  the  presidents  of  the  anthracite  rail- 
roads to  answer  before  court  to  the  charge  of  hindering  competi- 
tion and  enhancing  prices.  And  this  year  officials  of  these  same 
railroads  have  been  summoned  before  the  Sub-Committee  on 
Transportation  of  the  Industrial  Commission.  But  notwith- 
standing all  these  attempts  corporate  lines  have  been  annually 
drawn  tighter  and  more  tight  around  these  coal  fields,  and  the 
dawn  of  the  twentieth  century  has  seen  the  highest  point  reached 
in  perfecting  monopolistic  control  of  the  anthracite  coal  industry. 

THE   CLAIMS   OF    "COMMUNITY   OF    INTERESTS." 

We  see  from  the  preceding  sketch  that  a  persistent  effort, 
extending  over  half  a  century,  has  been  made  to  control  pro- 


78  THE   ANTHRACITE   COAL   INDUSTRY. 

duction  and  maintain  prices.  Several  forces  impelled  the  car- 
riers to  this  effort.  Consolidation  went  on  rapidly  during  the 
active  years  of  the  Workingmen's  Benevolent  Association  ;  and 
the  highest  point  attained  in  this  direction  is  coincident  with 
the  most  perfect  organization  of  employes  ever  seen  in  the 
anthracite  coal  fields.  Unionism  among  the  employes  has  been 
a  prime  cause  in  the  development  of  the  anthracite  syndicate. 
Another  cause  was  the  thirst  for  gain  on  the  part  of  individual 
operators,  which  could  not  be  restrained  save  by  the  strong  hand 
of  the  carrying  companies.  Other  causes  were  over-produc- 
tion, and  the  necessity  of  railroads,  heavily  burdened  with  debt, 
to  maintain  prices  and  thus  save  themselves  from  insolvency. 

The  benefits  to  be  achieved  by  consolidation  are  :  (1)  A  better 
system  of  transportation,  a  more  regular  movement  of  the  pro- 
duction and  a  saving  in  the  transportation  equipment,  which 
will  reduce  the  cost  of  bringing  coal  to  market.  (2)  The  doing 
away  with  coal  agents  and  hence  the  cheaper  marketing  of  coal. 
(3)  The  working  of  the  most  profitable  collieries  and  the 
shutting  down  of  the  more  expensive  ones.  In  this  way,  by 
mining  coal  under  the  most  favorable  conditions  possible  and 
using  mining  plants  to  the  greatest  profit,  the  cost  of  produc- 
tion will  be  reduced.  (4)  Greatly  reducing  the  cost  of  manage- 
ment by  centralization,  for  much  of  the  expenses  now  incurred 
by  divided  interests  in  collieries  and  railroads,  would  thus  be 
avoided.  (5)  The  maintenance  of  prices  at  a  steady  scale, 
which  would  yield  reasonable  returns  to  labor,  management 
and  capital. 

The  forces  compelling  consolidation  were  irresistible;  the 
benefits  aimed  at  were  laudable.  One  of  the  witnesses  before 
the  Industrial  Commission  expressed  an  opinion  that  a  saving  of 
$1.00  a  ton  could  be  effected  by  community  of  interests.  Three 
facts  stand  out  clearly  from  the  historical  sketch  given  above. 

1.  That  the  anthracite  coal  railroads  would  be  ruined  under 
free  and  unrestricted  competition.  The  years  when  it  was  in- 
dulged in  ended  in  disaster  and  confusion,  and  the  railroad  com- 
panies were  convinced  by  costly  experience  that  the  only  possible 
way  to  evade  hopeless  ruin  was  to  effect  some  agreement. 


TRANSPORTATION.  79 

2.  That  as  long  as  the  railroads  were  under  separate  and  in- 
dependent management,  no  reliance  could  be  placed  on  the  volun- 
tary agreement  entered  into.     Every  one  of  the  railroads  save 
the  Heading  was  guilty  of  breach  of  faith  in  shipping  more  coal 
than  its  assigned  quota.     Various  methods  proposed  were  de- 
feated by  subterfuge  and  bad  faith.    An  attempt  to  impose  a  fine 
for  every  ton  shipped  above  the  allotment  was  impracticable. 
No    scheme  to  restrain  the   unscrupulous  was  effective,  and 
each  agreement  resulted  in  a  disagreement  because  of  the  breach 
of  trust  of  some  of  the  recalcitrant  members  of  the  combination. 

3.  That  no  legislative  interference  has  been  able  to  prevent 
the  development  of  industrial  combination  because  the  condi- 
tions of  the  trade  and  the  interests  of  the  cooperative  parties 
producing  coal  demanded  it.     Vain  have  been  the  attempts  of 
the  legislatures  of  both  New  York  and  Pennsylvania  to  restrain 
the  combinations  of  anthracite  carriers,  and  the  cause  is  that 
the  industry  must  be  protected  in  some  way  from  ruinous  com- 
petition if  it  is  to  be  continued. 

The  syndicate  exists  for  profit.  The  end  in  view  in  its 
creation  is  to  increase  profits.  It  can  do  this  in  two  ways,  (a) 
by  reducing  expenses  of  management  and  cost  of  production, 
and  (6)  by  curtailing  production  and  raising  prices.  In  the 
first  it  serves  a  legitimate  and  useful  end  ;  in  the  second  it 
taxes  the  public  and  establishes  unjust  rates.  The  anthracite 
syndicate  is  likely  to  seek  profits  in  both  these  ways.  It  has 
many  advantages.  Command  of  the  anthracite  coal  fields  gives 
it  a  commodity  which  cannot  be  duplicated.  The  railroads  which 
seek  community  of  interests  are  the  only  avenues  of  communica- 
tion entering  these  coal  fields.  And  a  well-established  market 
whose  demand  is  constantly  increasing  affords  them  a  field  of 
operation  which  yields  safe  and  large  returns.  If  the  syndicate 
serves  the  public  by  giving  the  consumer  a  part  of  the  benefit 
acquired  by  better  management,  it  will  place  itself  above  criti- 
cism ;  but  if  instead  of  being  governed  by  far-sighted  manage- 
ment, it  shall  place  an  unjust  burden  on  the  public,  then  it  will 
be  wrecked  upon  the  rock  of  public  policy  which  has  proved 
disastrous  to  combinations  which  exploit  consumers.  Com- 


80  THE    ANTHRACITE    COAL   INDUSTRY. 

petition,  when  ruinous  to  employers,  cannot  benefit  either  the 
employe  or  the  consumer.  But  a  syndicate  which  assumes  more 
the  character  of  a  parasite  than  that  of  an  organism  which  benefits 
society,  is  a  public  curse  and  must  perish  in  the  business  world 
because  of  its  gross  disregard  of  commercial  morality. 

The  syndicate  will  adjust  supply  to  demand.  It  will  not  be 
many  years  hence,  however,  when  the  production  of  the  col- 
lieries will  not  exceed  the  demand.  Mining  engineers  are  of 
the  opinion  that  the  anthracite  coal  fields  are  fast  reaching  the 
point  of  maximum  production.  When  once  that  is  reached,  the 
market  demand  for  anthracite  may  exceed  the  capacity  of  the 
collieries,  and  then  "  stone  coal "  will  command  prices  which  may 
exceed  the  cost  of  production.  It  is  a  commodity  which  cannot 
be  duplicated,  and  it  will  be  to  the  interest  of  the  syndicate  to 
extend  the  limited  supply  at  fancy  prices  over  as  long  a  period 
as  possible.  Thus,  there  is  a  possibility  of  the  Reading  occu- 
pying as  enviable  a  position  fifty  years  hence,  as  it  has  occupied 
an  unenviable  one  in  the  past  generation.  It  commands  the 
largest  supply  of  coal,  which  will  last  a  hundred  years,  while 
that  of  the  other  railroads  in  the  community  of  interests  will  last 
little  over  half  that  time. 

In  the  meantime,  monopoly  prices  cannot  rise  indefinitely, 
for  the  syndicate  must  market  a  tonnage  large  enough  to  secure 
the  maximum  revenue.  The  collieries  can  now  produce  more 
than  can  be  profitably  marketed.  To  keep  production  at  the 
maximum  net  profit  point  is  the  aim  of  the  business  men  at  the 
head  of  this  concern. 

Their  commercial  instincts  based  on  long  experience  are 
their  guides,  and  it  is  a  mistake  to  imagine  that  they  can  raise 
prices  as  they  wish.  The  laws  of  supply  and  demand  govern 
them,  and  the  presence  of  bituminous  coal  will  ever  compel  the 
anthracite  monopolists  to  sell  their  commodity  at  prices  which 
will  secure  them  the  greatest  returns  on  their  investment.  When 
production  shall  fall  far  below  the  market  demand  at  prices 
which  prevail  to-day,  anthracite  will  be  a  luxury  and  find  its 
way  to  the  homes  of  those  who  will  be  able  to  pay  the  fancy 
price  it  will  command,  according  to  the  law  that  the  smaller 


TRANSPORTATION.  81 

the  supply  in  relation  to  the  demand,  the  higher  the  price. 
This  will  compensate  the  operators,  who,  as  the  supply  dimin- 
ishes, will  find  the  cost  of  production  increasing,  and  it  will 
enable  them  to  defer  the  point  of  marginal  returns  in  the  work- 
ing of  thin  seams  of  coal. 

The  tendency  of  all  departments  of  industry  is  to  consolida- 
tion, and  State  interference  has  not  been  able  to  check  it.  It 
is  not  likely  that  the  present  anthracite  syndicate  will  be  pre- 
vented from  carrying  out  its  scheme  by  the  power  of  the  State. 
The  condition  of  the  industry  necessitates  combination,  and  if 
the  men  at  the  helm  are  governed  by  far-sighted  policy,  the 
public  will  be  better  served,  and  this  store  of  wealth  will  render 
greater  social  utility.  There  is  a  possibility  of  the  syndicate 
abusing  its  power,  and  the  State  can  render  public  service  to 
the  consumers  by  exercising  supervision  over  the  monopoly  and 
seeing  that  the  public  is  served  and  not  bled.  Authorities  dif- 
fer as  to  the  power  the  State  should  exercise.  A  radical  cure 
would  be  for  the  State  to  assume  control  of  the  syndicate  and 
run  it  in  the  interest  of  the  people  ;  but  as  we  have  formerly 
shown,  under  our  present  political  regime,  that  cure  would  be 
worse  than  the  disease. 

Any  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  State  to  fix  profits  would  be 
defeated  by  watering  stocks  and  increasing  costs  of  manage- 
ment. 

The  attempt  by  the  Commonwealth  to  fix  rates  would  be  use- 
less in  this  instance,  for  most  of  the  railroads  carry  their  own 
product  to  market.  If  the  State  attempted  to  fix  market  prices 
it  would  be  an  interference  with  commercial  liberty  which  would 
lead  to  confusion  and  disaster,  and  could  never  be  enforced. 

What  the  State  can  do  is  to  remove  all  restriction  to  possi- 
ble competition  from  other  coal  fields  ;  to  see  that  the  syndicate 
deals  fairly  with  the  individual  producer,  the  employe  and  the 
consumer ;  to  hold  the  members  of  the  syndicate  responsible 
for  any  breach  of  trust  injurious  to  public  policy ;  and  to  force 
publicity  as  to  capitalization  and  profits.  Any  larger  interfer- 
ence than  this  is  fraught  with  grave  danger,  and,  under  present 
commercial  custom,  would  not  be  tolerated.  The  anthracite 
6 


82  THE   ANTHRACITE   COAL   INDUSTRY. 

industry  may  be  compared  to  a  ship :  left  to  free  competition, 
it  is  the  ship  driven  hither  and  thither  by  the  laws  of  nature  : 
under  the  control  of  a  syndicate,  it  is  the  ship  ably  manned  and 
directed  by  instincts  based  on  experience  for  a  definite  end  ;  the 
sphere  of  the  State  is  to  see  that  the  timber  in  the  ship  is  sound, 
that  it  be  not  over-loaded,  that  the  employes  be  treated  justly, 
and  that,  in  its  commercial  activity,  it  does  not  play  the  pirate. 


CHAPTER  V. 

MINING  MANAGEMENT  AND  INSPECTION. 

1.  THE  NEED  OF  DISCIPLINE.  2.  THE  DUTIES  OF  INSIDE  FOREMEN.  3.  THE 
DUTIES  OF  MINERS.  4.  THE  DUTIES  OF  OUTSIDE  FOREMEN.  5.  LEGIS- 
LATIVE INTERFERENCE. 


An  army  in  the  field  must  be  under  strict  discipline.  Its 
efficiency  largely  depends  upon  its  capacity  to  faithfully  carry 
out  the  commands  of  its  general.  The  army  mining  coal  in  the 
anthracite  fields  must  also  be  subject  to  discipline,  and  the 
efficiency  of  every  colliery  largely  depends  upon  the  observation 
of  rules  and  regulations  gained  by  experience  for  the  safety  of 
life,  limb  and  property.  All  mines  are  not  equally  dangerous,  so 
that  some  regulations  strictly  enforced  in  one  locality  need  not 
be  an  object  of  solicitude  in  another.  But  in  every  colliery  there 
is  so  large  an  element  of  danger  that  constant  care  must  be  ex- 
ercised by  foremen  and  laborers,  in  order  to  protect  themselves. 
No  coal  field  in  the  country  is  as  gaseous  as  that  part  of  the  an- 
thracite fields  between  Pittston  and  Nanticoke.  In  this  section 
it  is  not  unusual  to  see  an  iron  pipe  stuck  in  the  soil,  whence 
comes  a  sufficient  quantity  of  gas  to  burn  without  intermission 
for  weeks  if  ignited.  To  work  mines  located  in  this  section 
needs  constant  discipline,  and  the  greatest  care  must  be  exercised. 

A  moment's  neglect  on  the  part  of  one  man  may  suffice  to 
cause  the  death  of  many.  The  number  of  accidents  in  mining 
is  large,  but  the  fact  that  an  industry  fraught  with  such  grave 
danger  is  successfully  carried  on  without  more  appalling  calami- 
ties than  befall  the  miners,  is  a  high  tribute  to  the  intelligence 
of  those  in  charge  as  well  as  to  the  discipline  maintained  among 
the  men.  One  of  the  inspectors  says  in  his  report  of  1898, 
that  "  it  is  nothing  uncommon  to  find  mines  where  two-thirds 
of  the  miners  know  not  the  English  language,  and  where  they 

83 


84  THE   ANTHRACITE    COAL    INDUSTRY. 

are  directed  by  the  foreman  by  signs ; "  and  notwithstanding 
this,  the  number  of  accidents  among  these  men,  if  computed 
according  to  the  number  of  Sclavs  employed,  does  not  exceed 
that  among  English-speaking  miners.  Such  conditions,  how- 
ever, involve  greater  responsibility  on  the  part  of  the  foreman, 
who,  in  the  discharge  of  his  duty,  finds  greater  willingness  to 
obey  and  submit  to  discipline  among  the  Sclavs  than  among 
men  of  greater  familiarity  with  mining. 

It  is  not  easy  to  enforce  discipline.  Men  resent  it,  even  when 
it  is  their  interest  to  obey.  It  would  be  easy  to  multiply  in- 
stances of  gross  neglect  due  to  thoughtlessness.  A  foreman  of 
wide  experience  said  "  not  a  day  passes  in  my  life  but  I  have 
to  stop  one  or  two  miners,  because  they  will  not  put  up  the 
necessary  props  in  their  chambers  to  protect  themselves." 

Men  differ  greatly.  Some  miners  by  nature  put  safety  of 
life  and  limb  first,  others  seem  almost  oblivious  of  this  in  their 
eagerness  to  get  through  their  day's  work,  and  the  foreman  can 
only  enforce  his  commands  by  stern  discipline.  Most  men  are 
governed  more  by  sentiment  than  by  reason,  which  makes  it 
the  more  difficult  to  enforce  wise  laws.  Sometimes,  when  men 
are  discharged  for  gross  neglect,  the  hostility  of  their  fellow 
workmen  is  aroused  and  trouble  results. 

How  best  to  enforce  discipline  is  a  question  often  discussed, 
and  some  have  advocated  prosecution  by  law  when  mining 
regulations  are  disregarded.  The  personal  element  in  the  char- 
acter of  the  foreman  has  much  to  do  with  efficiency  of  manage- 
ment ;  one  man  can  enforce  discipline  by  a  sign,  another  cannot 
effect  it  even  by  stentorian  expletives.  Our  object  in  this  chap- 
ter is  to  describe  the  system  of  mine  management  and  inspection. 

THE   NEED    OF    DISCIPLINE. 

There  are  some  mines  which  have  fourteen  miles  of  track 
underground.  Here  is  a  "  mystic  maze  "  par  excellence.  We 
have  known  superintendents  and  old  experienced  miners,  who 
entered  an  unfamiliar  section  of  a  colliery,  to  have  lost  their 
way  and  been  unable  to  get  out,  until  found  by  a  search 
party.  Men  who  have  spent  their  lives  in  superintending  col- 


MINING    MANAGEMENT   AND    INSPECTION.  85 

lieries  are  bewildered  when  they  enter  a  new  mine  for  the  first 
time.  It  takes  several  trips  before  they  know  their  way  through 
the  workings.  Now,  coal  land  is  valuable,  and  there  is  hardly 
a  colliery  of  any  extent  in  the  Northern  coal  field,  but  has 
some  leased  property,  which  necessitates  the  keeping  of  an  ac- 
curate account  of  all  the  coal  mined.  Amid  such  a  maze  of 
entanglements  how  can  it  be  done  ?  By  discipline  and  enforced 
regulations. 

Every  foreman  knows  where  he  stands  in  the  mines,  and  can 
point  out  the  boundary  lines  as  accurately  as  they  are  drawn  on 
the  surface.  The  self-interest  of  the  land  proprietors  demands 
it,  science  offers  the  solution,  and  the  law  commands  that  every 
line  be  accurately  drawn,  periodically  revised  and  carefully 
preserved. 

The  work  of  surveying  engineers  in  the  anthracite  coal  fields 
is  not  excelled  in  any  part  of  the  United  States.  It  has  been 
brought  to  a  high  degree  of  accuracy,  and  has  received  the 
commendation  of  scientific  men.  This  was  not  the  case  in  the 
early  history  of  anthracite  mining.  Then,  no  maps  were 
kept ;  few  records  of  old  workings  can  be  found  ;  but  in  recent 
years  accurate  records  are  kept  both  by  the  State  and  by  the 
companies  who  operate  the  mines. 

In  this  way  the  boundaries  of  the  several  properties  are  deter- 
mined, the  right  of  each  land-owner  is  preserved,  and  the  danger, 
arising  from  old  workings  whose  position  is  unknown  and  which 
are  filled  with  water  and  gas,  is  eliminated.  To-day  scientific 
principles  prevail.  Fixed  rules  are  followed,  so  that  a  uniform 
system  exists,  and  better  results  are  attained.  Every  foreman 
has  his  drawings,  which  represent  the  workings,  and  in  cutting 
coal  every  miner  must  drive  his  chamber  according  to  di- 
rections. Every  part  of  the  mine  is  worked  by  rule,  and  the 
pillars  left  are  regular  and  run  in  a  parallel  direction.  An  ac- 
curate account  is  kept  of  the  coal  mined  from  every  section, 
and  from  every  vein.  Every  six  months  surveying  engineers 
make  an  accurate  survey  of  all  the  workings ;  two  perfect  copies 
are  made,  one  for  the  operator  and  one  for  the  office  of  the 
inspector  of  the  district.  If  the  inspector  has  an  impression 


86  THE    ANTHRACITE   COAL    INDUSTRY. 

that  any  deception  is  practised,  he  has  the  power  to  cause  a 
special  survey  to  be  made  at  the  expense  of  the  operator  if  there 
is  inaccuracy,  and  if  not,  the  Commonwealth  foots  the  bill. 
When  we  remember  that  the  coal  strata  pitch  at  all  possible 
angles,  we  may  well  imagine  the  difficulties  surveying  engineers 
have  to  contend  with.  Science  and  the  ingenuity  of  man  have 
triumphed,  so  that  the  rights  of  men,  the  safety  of  employes, 
and  the  greatest  economy  in  mining,  are  secured. 

Another  department  which  requires  scientific  knowledge  is 
ventilation,  and  where  there  is  much  gas  the  regulations  laid 
down  must  be  strictly  obeyed  and  the  laws  faithfully  adhered 
to.  Not  only  does  the  presence  of  explosive  gases  demand  an 
abundant  supply  of  air,  but  also  the  smoke  of  powder  used  in 
blasting  coal  necessitates  it.  Two  hundred  men  using  powder  in 
a  colliery  create  a  quantity  of  powder  smoke  which  requires  a 
large  volume  of  air  in  order  that  it  may  be  carried  away.  Then 
we  have  to  remember  that  some  mines  are  several  miles  in 
length,  and  the  air  must  be  carried  to  the  farthest  part  where 
the  workings  generally  are,  in  order  to  remove  powder  smoke 
and  noxious  gases.  These  causes  make  the  problem  of  venti- 
lation a  very  intricate  one. 

When  mining  was  in  its  early  stages  very  simple  devices 
were  used  for  ventilation.  Some  mines  in  the  Lehigh  region, 
which  were  not  very  deep,  depended  wholly  upon  natural  agen- 
cies. Many  of  the  mines  in  the  Northern  coal  field,  in  the 
sixties  and  early  seventies,  used  a  steam  jet,  or  kept  a  furnace 
at  the  foot  of  the  up-cast  to  generate  the  necessary  circulation. 
When  the  Avondale  disaster  occurred  in  September,  1869, 
many  of  the  mines  were  in  a  wretched  condition  as  to  ventila- 
tion. This  was  especially  the  case  in  mines  which  were  not 
troubled  by  dangerous  gases.  Poor  ventilation,  however,  worked 
havoc  among  the  men  ;  many  of  them  contracted  miners'  asthma 
which  brought  them  to  an  untimely  grave.  Some  men  employed 
in  these  mines  would  go  to  work  at  three  o'clock  in  the  morning 
in  order  that  they  might  blast  the  necessary  amount  of  coal 
before  the  mine  was  filled  with  powder  smoke,  in  which  it  was 
almost  impossible  for  man  or  beast  to  live.  Those  days  are 


MINING   MANAGEMENT   AND    INSPECTION.  87 

past.  The  law  demands  better  conditions  to-day,  and  oper- 
ators themselves  have  proved  by  experience  that  men  and  ani- 
mals can  do  better  work  when  provided  with  a  plentiful  supply 
of  pure  air.  Hence,  few  are  the  operators  who  do  not  equip 
their  collieries  with  a  fan  apparatus  which  furnishes  abundant 
ventilation  so  that  their  employes  are  able  to  work  with  naked 
light  in  gaseous  mines. 

In  large  collieries,  the  workings  are  divided  into  districts, 
in  each  of  which  75  persons  are  permitted  to  work.  The  law 
requires  that  each  person  is  to  be  provided  with  200  cubic 
feet  of  pure  air  every  minute,  and  as  much  more  as  circum- 
stances demand. 

The  air  having  passed  through  one  district,  must  pass  out  of  the 
mines.  Some  collieries  have  a  separate  fan  for  each  district  ; 
others  have  one  large  plant  capable  of  creating  a  current  of  from 
200,000  to  250,000  cubic  feet  per  minute ;  this  volume  is  then 
divided,  and  each  district  is  supplied  with  the  necessary  amount. 

The  system  of  ventilation  varies  with  the  conditions  of  the 
mines  and  the  skill  of  the  foreman.  The  qualifications  of  the 
foreman  in  charge  of  a  colliery  are  tested  by  his  capacity  to 
arrange  his  air-courses  in  such  a  way  as  to  give  his  men  the 
necessary  supply  of  pure  air.  Incompetency  in  this  regard 
has  been  the  ruin  of  many.  The  problem  of  ventilation  in 
some  of  the  thick  pitching  veins  of  the  Southern  coal  field  is 
perplexing  and  often  expensive.  If  the  veins  emit  much 
gas,  the  system  of  ventilating  each  chamber  separately  is 
adopted.  In  the  Wilkes-Barre  district,  where  a  large  quantity 
of  gas  prevails,  the  problem  of  securing  proper  ventilation  is 
the  most  important  one  to  be  solved  by  the  operators.  Such  a 
quantity  of  gas  is  met  with  here  that  two  airways  are  some- 
times opened,  one  on  each  side  of  the  gangway,  and,  after  they 
are  driven,  they  are  left  for  several  months  before  chambers 
are  opened,  so  as  to  drain  off  the  gas.  In  many  mines  in  this  re- 
gion, the  men  who  drive  the  gangways  and  airways  are  furnished 
with  an  abundant  supply  of  water  and  a  hose  attachment ;  for 
in  blasting,  the  powder  flash  ignites  the  gas,  which  they  must 
extinguish  by  the  use  of  the  hose. 


88  THE   ANTHRACITE   COAL   INDUSTRY. 

In  order  to  carry  the  air  to  the  face  of  the  workings,  doors 
are  erected  on  the  gangways  to  prevent  it  from  returning  by 
the  nearest  route  to  the  up-cast.  The  number  of  these  doors 
depends  partly  on  the  system  of  ventilation  adopted.  In  fiery 
mines,  many  more  are  needed  than  in  mines  where  the  gases  are 
not  dangerous.  Each  of  these  doors  opens  against  the  air  cur- 
rent, and  although  hung  so  as  to  be  self-closing,  it  must  be 
attended  by  a  boy  or  an  old  man,  whose  duty  it  is  to  see 
that  the  door  is  properly  closed  after  being  opened.  These 
doors,  as  well  as  any  other  appliance  for  carrying  the  air  for- 
ward, are  built  as  nearly  air-tight  as  possible.  In  opening  new 
workings  where  gas  prevails,  safety  lamps  are  used.  Generally, 
however,  naked  lights  are  used  in  mining,  which  demands  a  suf- 
ficient quantity  of  air  to  scatter  the  gas  and  render  it  harmless. 

THE    DUTIES    OF    INSIDE    FOREMEN. 

Each  colliery  has  its  corps  of  foremen  of  various  grades.  In 
every,  colliery  there  is  an  inside  foreman  with  one  or  two  as- 
sistants, the  driver-boss,  the  barn-boss,  and  other  petty  bosses 
in  charge  of  troops  oT  men  in  various  parts  of  the  mines.  Out- 
side the  colliery  there  is  a  foreman  in  charge,  and  under  him 
are  the  reaker-bss  and  the 


The  inside  foremen  and  assistant  foremen  must  pass  an  ex- 
amination before  they  can  hold  the  position.  If  they  are 
employed  without  this  necessary  qualification,  the  operator  is 
liable  to  a  fine.  The  examination  for  mine  foreman  is  con- 
ducted by  the  inspector  of  the  district,  two  practical  miners 
and  one  operator.  The  candidate  must  have  had  five  years' 
experience  in  mining,  must  be  familiar  with  the  laws  of  venti- 
lation and  know  the  various  gases  which  are  to  be  met  with. 
Three  of  the  board  must  attest  to  his  qualifications,  upon  which 
the  Secretary  of  Internal  Affairs  issues  to  him  a  certificate 
bearing  the  seal  of  the  State.  This  law  demanding  competency 
in  foremen  was  designed  for  the  safety  of  employes,  but  a  use 
has  been  made  of  it  which  was  not  foreseen  by  its  originator. 
One  of  the  inspectors  speaks  as  follows  of  it  :  "  The  law  re- 
quiring the  mine  foremen  to  have  a  certificate  from  the  State, 


MINING    MANAGEMENT   AND    INSPECTION.  89 

places  the  burden  of  responsibility  on  the  State,  and  those  in- 
jured through  their  incompetency,  have  no  way  of  redress  from 
the  parties  who  employ  them.  The  same  is  true  of  the  fire- 
boss,  and  the  same  also  is  true  of  the  miners  who  hold  certifi- 
cates. Before  this  act  was  passed,  the  burden  of  responsi- 
bility rested  on  the  companies  and  they  were  more  careful." 

The  inside  foreman  is  held  responsible  Jor ;  the  condition  of 
the  workings^ :ffe— ^supposed  to  see  that  the  roads  are  in 
prope*  condition,  to  examine  the  roof  of  every  working,  to 
guard  against  dangers  from  poisonous  or  explosive  gases,  and 
to  exercise  general  supervision  over  the  miners  so  that  they 
put  in  the  necessary  supply  of  timber.  Every  morning  before 
the  men  go  to  work,  he  is  supposed  to  know  that  every  place  is 
safe  for  the  miners  to  enter,  or  give  warning  to  the  man  whose 
place  is  not  safe.  At  the  close  of  every  day,  he  or  his  assistant 
has  to  go  through  the  main  thoroughfares  to  see  that  every  door 
is  in  proper  position  and  that  the  brattices  are  in  place.  He 
must  measure  the  ventilation  at  the  inlet  and  outlet  once  a  week 
and  forward  a  report  once  a  month  to  the  operator.  He  keeps 
the  time  of  the  company  hands,  and  adjusts  prices  for  extra 
work  with  the  miners.  All  pumps  and  appliances  underground 
are  in  his  charge.  Every  two  weeks  he  must  measure  the  yard- 
age for  the  men  and  turn  in  their  accounts  to  the  office. 

The  progress  made  in  the  workings  is  to  be  marked  by  him 
on  the  map  of  the  colliery.  He  orders  the  necessary  supplies 
for  the  colliery  once  a  month,  and,  at  the  close  of  every  month, 
he  has  to  fill  out  a  blank  form,  giving  the  aggregate  expenses 
under  each  department  during  the  month  and  its  average  per 
ton  of  the  coal  mined.  This  sheet  he  forwards  to  the  office  of 
the  company. 

The  fire-boss  is  the  foreman's  assistant.  He  also  holds  a 
certificate  from  the  State  affirming  his  competency  to  hold  the 
position.  Every  morning  he  goes  through  the  section  of  the 
mines  assigned  him,  visiting  every  place  where  the  men  are 
working,  and  then  reports  the  condition  of  the  workings  at 
the  foot  of  the  shaft  or  slope  before  the  men  enter.  If  any 
place  is  dangerous,  he  marks  a  board  kept  for  the  purpose,  op- 


90  THE   ANTHRACITE   COAL    INDUSTRY. 

posite  the  number  of  the  miner  who  works  in  that  place.  The 
miner  then  must  see  either  the  foreman  or  his  assistant  before 
he  goes  to  his  work,  to  ascertain  the  cause  of  the  danger.  If 
he  neglects  to  do  this,  he  is  liable  to  be  discharged.  The  mark 
generally  used  is  a  +  placed  on  the  signal  board,  one  -f  signi- 
fies danger,  but  not  of  a  serious  character ;  two  +  -f  warn  the 
man  to  be  particularly  careful ;  three  +  +  +  designate  that 
his  place  is  in  such  a  condition  that  it  cannot  be  worked.  In 
his  routes  the  fire-boss  is  supposed  to  mark  in  chalk  the  date 
of  his  visit  to  each  place,  and  when  he  sees  that  props  are  nec- 
cessary  in  a  chamber,  he  puts  a  mark  on  the  roof  where  one 
should  be  placed.  The  assistant  foreman  is  expected  to  keep 
strict  watch  over  all  doors  and  brattices,  so  that  the  ventilation 
may  take  its  proper  course.  Where  safety  lamps  are  used,  it 
is  his  business  also  to  see  that  each  lamp  is  in  proper  condition 
before  it  is  given  out  in  the  morning. 

The  driver-boss  has  charge  of  all  thedrivers.  runners  and 
door-boys.  He  is  to  see  that  each  is  at  his  post  every  morning 
before*  the  mine  starts.  He  also  exercises  supervision  over  the 
mules  used  underground,  that  they  are  not  maltreated  by  the 
boys  in  charge  of  them,  that  the  roads  where  they  work  are  in 
good  condition,  and  that  none  of  them  is  overworked.  The 
barn-boss  also  exercises  supervision  over  the  mules.  If  one  of 
them  breaks  To^lr;4ie~Tgports"  to  the  veterinary  surgeon,  who 
immediately  visits  the  animal,  investigates  the  cause  of  the 
complaint,  and  if  possible  remedies  it.  He  visits  the  place 
where  the  animal  works  and  if  it  is  not  in  good  condition,  he 
informs  the  foreman,  who  is  expected  to  immediately  remove 
the  difficulty ;  if  he  neglects  to  do  this  after  being  notified, 
the  superior  authorities  are  at  once  informed.  If  any  one  of 
the  drivers  is  guilty  of  abusing  the  animals  in  his  care,  he  is 
discharged ;  if  a  mule  is  killed  by  the  driver's  negligence,  he 
must  pay  for  it.  On  all  the  roads  which  have  grades,  safety- 
blocks  or  latches  are  thrown  across  the  track,  so  that  a  trip  of 
cars  which  might  return  when  a  rope  or  a  coupling  breaks,  will 
be  thrown  off  the  track  before  it  does  much  damage.  The 
driver-boss  is  held  responsible  for  the  adjustment  of  these. 


MINING   MANAGEMENT   AND    INSPECTION.  91 

There  is  in  some  mines  what  is  known  as  the^slaterbQss^>  It 
is  his  duty  to  go  from  place  to  place  in  order  to  examine  the 
cars  and  see  whether  the  laborers  load  clean  coal  or  not.  This 
petty  official  can  make  himself  very  obnoxious  to  the  men.  An 
arrogant  fellow  holding  this  position  in  a  shaft  in  the  Northern 
coal  field  made  it  a  practice  to  enter  a  chamber  where  a  car 
was  loaded  ready  to  go  on  its  way  to  the  breaker.  He  would 
strike  up  the  latch  holding  fast  the  door  at  the  end  of  the  car, 
and  half  the  contents  would  fall  out  on  the  roadway.  The 
laborer  was  then  obliged  to  load  the  car  the  second  time.  A  cer- 
tain slate-boss  precipitated  a  strike  by  examining  cars  in  the 
above  manner  when  they  were  on  their  way  to  the  breaker. 
Such  needless  exercise  of  authority  made  saints  to  swear  and 
imperiled  the  health  of  the  slate-boss. 

THE   DUTIES   OF   MINERS. 

Since  the  law  of  1897,  no  operator  can  employ  any  person 
as  a  miner  unless  he  presents  a  certificate  of  competency  to 
mine  coal.  Eacl^district  in  the  anthracite  coal  fields  has  a 
board  of  examiners  comprised  of  nine  practical  miners  appointed 
by  the  courts  of  the  several  counties  at  the  recommendation  of 
competent  advisers.  The  board  divides  itself  into  three  sub- 
committees, which  hold  meetings  at  specified  localities — the 
most  convenient  for  the  applicants.  The  time  and  place  of 
meeting  are  published  in  the  local  press.  Each  applicant  for 
a  certificate  must  have  labored  with  a  practical  miner  in  the 
anthracite  coal  fields  for  at  least  two  years  before  he  is  eligible 
for  examination.  In  order  to  secure  a  certificate  he  must  answer 
twelve  questions  in  the  English  language  as  to  the  practice  and 
duties  of  mining.  The  certificate  costs  him  a  dollar. 

In  1898  hundreds  of  certificates  were  issued,  but  in  the  an- 
nual TepSTtTof  the  Bureau  of  Mines  for  that  year  only  two 
boards  give  reports  which  have  any  statistical  value.  They  are 
the  boards  of  the  Fourth  and  Seventh  Districts.  In  the  Fourth, 
294  certificates  were  issued  ;  in  the  Seventh,  214.  The  nation- 
ality of  the  men  was  as  follows  : 


92  THE   ANTHRACITE    COAL    INDUSTRY. 

Nationality.  Fourth  District.  Seventh  District. 

American 
English 
Irish 
Welsh 

German 26  6 

Little  Kussian 143  16 

Hungarian 9  10 

Austrian 28  26 

Italian 3  2 

Bohemian 0  1 

French 0  1 

Scotch 0  1 

Total 294  214 

No  report  from  any  of  the  boards  is  found  in  the  "  Report  of 
the  Bureau  of  Mines"  for  1899. 

When  the  miner  enters  his  chamber  to  begin  the  day's  work, 
he  must  first  examine  the  roof  and  see  that  it  is  safe.  When  he 
leaves,  which  is  soon  after  he  has  cut  sufficient  coal  for  that  day, 
he  is  supposed  to  leave  the  place  in  a  safe  condition  for  the 
laborer. 

The  miner,  as  a  rule,  is  in  a  hurry  to  get  out,  and  this  is  de- 
clared by  the  inspectors  in  the  Northern  coal  field  to  be  one  of 
the  most  prolific  causes  of  accidents.  Powder  used  in  blasting 
must  be  kept  in  a  box  under  lock  and  key,  and  is  only  to  be 
handled  by  the  miner,  but  many  of  the  men  disregard  this  law. 
Rock  must  be  blasted  in  the  majority  of  places  at  present,  and 
it  is  generally  done  after  the  coal  for  the  day  is  loaded.  Many 
miners,  anxious  to  get  out  early,  prepare  the  hole  in  the  rock 
and  have  the  charge  ready ;  they  then  give  instruction  to  the 
laborer  to  put  it  in  place  and  blast  the  rock,  while  they  go  home. 

When  a  charge  is  ignited,  warning  must  be  given,  and  the 
mouth  of  the  chamber  must  be  guarded  lest  any  one  enters  in 
when  the  coal  is  being  blasted.  Sometimes  the  charge  misses 
fire,  then  the  miner  must  be  very  careful  in  returning  to  it. 
Many  are  the  victims  of  serious  accidents  from  this  cause. 
When  they  return  to  take  out  the  charge,  the  powder  ignites, 
hurling  the  coal  and  fire  into  their  faces.  After  the  charge  is 


MINING   MANAGEMENT   AND    INSPECTION.  93 

passed,  the  miner  must  examine  whether  any  of  the  props  have 
been  blown  out  or  the  gas  ignited,  and  if  that  be  the  case  he 
must  replace  the  one  and  extinguish  the  other.  Printed  rules 
are  posted  in  every  mine  as  to  the  care  of  tools,  the  handling 
of  powder,  the  position  of  the  car,  the  treatment  of  gases,  etc.; 
admirable  rules  in  every  respect,  but  a  dead  letter  to  most  of 
the  English-speaking  miners,  not  to  say  anything  of  the  hun- 
dreds of  Sclavs  to  whom  the  English  tongue  is  unknown. 

Most  of  the  miners  in  the  Northern  coal  field  employ 
laborers  to  load  coal.  It  is  their  duty  to  load  clean  coal.  The 
printed  rules  carefully  describe  the  duties  of  laborers  also,  95 
per  cent,  of  whom  are  Sclavs,  and  whose  knowledge  of  the 
English  language  for  the  greater  part  comprises  only  of  such 
phrases  as  "  get  car,"  "  load  coal,"  "  clean  coal,"  "  fire  hole," 
"  look  out."  When  the  laws  are  obeyed,  it  is  by  spirit  and  not 
by  letter,  for  to  these  men  the  law  is  a  dead  letter. 

The  duties  of  the  footman  at  the  shaft  are  prescribed.  He 
must  see  that  the  signaling  apparatus  is  in  good  working  order, 
must  follow  the  specified  signals  and  give  the  right  signals 
when  the  colliery  is  working.  When  men  are  hoisted  or  left 
down  the  shaft,  the  footman  and  the  headman  must  see  that  no 
more  than  ten  persons  get  on  the  carriage  at  the  same  time. 

THE    DUTIES    OF   OUTSIDE   FOREMEN. 

The  outside  foreman  has  charge  of  all  the  machinery  on  the 
surfae&.  There  is  close  connection  between  the  inside  and  out- 
side departments  in  a  colliery.  When  the  men  in  charge  are 
good  friends  things  go  on  smoothly,  but  it  sometimes  happens 
that  the  inside  and  outside  foremen  are  not  friends,  and  con- 
siderable friction  is  the  result. 

The  rules  and  regulations  of  the  colliery  minutely  prescribe 
the  duties  of  the  hoisting  engineer.  He  is  to  keep  watch  over 
the  boilers,  to  examine  the  carriages,  ropes,  catches,  drums, 
etc.,  to  see  that  they  are  in  working  order  every  day  before 
work  begins. 

In  the  breaker  a  large  amount  of  machinery  is  placed  for  the 
breaking,  cleaning,  and  washing  of  coal.  Here  from  50  to  60 


94  THE   ANTHRACITE    COAL    INDUSTRY. 

boys  are  employed,  so  that  the  greatest  care  must  be  exercised 
lest  some  of  the  small  lads  get  into  the  machinery.  Hence  the 
man  in  charge  of  the  breaker  engine  must  go  according  to  signals 
and  never  start  the  machinery  without  the  word  of  command 
from  the  foreman.  Every  part  of  the  machinery  is  safely  fenced 
in,  and  no  slate-picker  is  allowed  to  oil  any  portion  of  it. 
That  duty  is  assigned  to  a  young  man  competent  to  do  the  work. 

The  coal  in  the  breaker  is  reduced  to  the  following  sizes  : 
lump,  grate,  stove,  egg,  chestnut,  peanut,  buckwheat  and  birds- 
eye  or  rice. 

The  proportion  of  these  sizes  sent  to  market  is  not  uniform 
in  every  colliery.  It  depends  partly  on  the  nature  of  the  coal, 
on  the  machinery  used  in  preparing  it,  and  on  the  kind  most 
needed  in  the  market.  The  following  is  the  proportion  of  one 
of  the  breakers  in  the  Lacka wanna  Valley  : 


Large  Sizes. 

Percentage. 

Small  Sizes. 

Percentage. 

Lump 

3/c 

Peanut 

11  fo 

Egg 

16  % 

Buckwheat 

13  # 

Stove 

32% 

Eice  or  Birds-eye 

3% 

Chestnut 

22  fo 

73  f*  27  % 

The  outside  foreman  is  held  responsible  that  clean  coal  is 
sent  to  market.  Coal  inspectors  are  kept  at  the  collieries 
whose  duty  it  is  to  examine  the  contents  of  the  cars.  If  cars 
of  stove  and  egg  sizes  contain  more  than  4  per  cent,  of  slate 
and  bony  coal,  they  are  condemned.  The  same  is  done  with 
chestnut  if  it  contains  more  than  6  per  cent,  and  with  peanut 
coal  if  it  has  more  than  10  per  cent,  of  impurities. 

During  the  last  decade  the  responsibility  of  the  outside 
foreman  as  to  clean  coal  is  greater  than  it  was  fifteen  or  twenty 
years  ago.  There  are  two  reasons  for  this.  On  the  one  hand, 
the  veins  of  coal  now  being  mined  are  not  as  clean  as  those 
formerly  operated,  and  on  the  other  hand,  the  consumer  is  more 
fastidious  and  demands  cleaner  coal  than  he  did  in  the  seventies 
and  early  eighties.  For  these  reasons,  improved  appliances  have 
in  recent  years  been  introduced  into  breakers  for  the  cleaning  and 


MINING   MANAGEMENT   AND    INSPECTION.  95 

washing  of  coal,  which  demand  a  large  outlay.  And  in  this 
respect,  the  large  corporations  have  the  advantage  over  indi- 
vidual operators.  Strong  mining  companies  in  recent  years  put 
up  one  mammoth  breaker  which  is  supplied  with  coal  from  three 
or  four  collieries.  They  are  able  thus  to  put  in  the  latest  and 
best  machinery,  and  get  far  more  out  of  the  plant  than  if  they 
built  four  small  breakers.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  the  ingenuity 
of  mining  engineers  is  as  well  displayed  in  the  marvelous  devices 
invented  for  cleaning  and  washing  coal,  as  in  any  department 
of  mining.  Indeed  some  of  these  seem  to  act  too  well  to 
please  the  operators.  When  a  simple  device  was  put  into  a 
breaker  by  one  of  the  outside  foremen  in  Lackawanna  county, 
which  picked  out  the  slate  far  better  than  any  appliance  pre- 
viously used,  the  operator,  seeing  the  pile  of  slate  taken  out, 
said  "  D — n  it,  it  takes  too  much  out."  One  of  the  younger 
men  in  the  coal  business,  enthusiastic  over  the  new  appliances 
for  cleaning  coal,  undertook,  in  a  kindly  spirit,  to  instruct  an 
old  operator  how  to  clean  the  coal  he  sent  to  market,  about 
which  complaints  were  made.  The  young  man  spent  a  whole 
afternoon  explaining  how  the  devices  could  be  introduced  into 
the  breaker.  The  old  operator  was  very  thankful,  but  as  he 
shook  hands  with  the  young  man  he  said  :  "  Thank  you  very 
much,  but  I  think  I  have  sold  more  slate  than  you  ever  will." 

LEGISLATIVE   INTERFERENCE. 

The  activity  of  legislators  in  Harrisburg  is  so  great  that  the 
multiplicity  of  laws  turned  out  by  them  defies  any  man  to  keep 
track  of  them.  It  is  the  spirit  of  the  age,  coupled  with  the 
political  system  dominating  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  which 
makes  every  representative  sent  to  the  Legislature  anxious  to  do 
something  for  his  constituency.  That  has  been  the  case  with 
the  honorable  men  sent  from  the  anthracite  coal  fields.  Every 
one  of  them  has  tried  to  get  some  measure  through  during  his 
term  of  office,  bearing  directly  on  the  mining  interests  of  the 
State,  so  that  he  may  say  that  his  election  has  not  been  in 
vain.  The  result  is,  that  the  mining  interests  are  suffer- 
ing from  over-legislation,  and  many  of  the  laws  passed  have 


96  THE    ANTHRACITE    COAL    INDUSTRY. 

produced  results  wholly  contrary  to  the  intention  of  the  origi- 
nator, and  worked  considerable  mischief  to  both  employer 
and  employe. 

During  the  first  fifty  years  of  anthracite  mining,  nothing 
was  done  in  the  way  of  legislation  bearing  directly  on  mining  ; 
but  in  the  last  thirty  years  in  every  session  of  the  Legislature 
some  measure  relative  to  the  mining  industry  of  the  State  was 
either  passed  or  discussed. 

The  first  law  passed  relative  to  the  anthracite  coal  fields  was 
in  1869,  which  was  only  applicable  to  Schuylkill  county.  In 
the  following  year  it  was  made  general  and  designed  for  the 
preservation  of  "  health  and  safety  of  persons  employed  in  an- 
thracite coal  mines."  These  laws  were  revised,  extended  and 
reenacted  in  the  year  1885  ;  six  years  later  (1891),  it  was 
deemed  expedient  to  again  revise  and  enlarge  the  regulations, 
which  is  the  form  in  which  they  are  to-day,  and  declared  to  be 
"  the  crowning  result  of  many  years  of  experience  and  investi- 
gation on  the  subject."  Since  1891  additions  have  been*  made 
in  the  years  1895,  1897,  1899  and  1901. 

When  the  State  entered  this  field  of  action,  it  was  necessary 
to  appoint  officials  to  see  that  the  laws  of  the  Commonwealth 
were  faithfully  carried  out.  This  department  of  Internal  Af- 
fairs has  developed  to  considerable  importance,  and  last  year 
the  "  Report  of  the  Bureau  of  Mines"  issued  by  it  is  a  quarto 
volume  of  over  1,100  pages.  In  1869,  when  the  State  passed 
laws  regulating  mining  in  Schuylkill  county,  three  inspectors 
were  appointed.  When  these  regulations  were  made  general, 
three  others  were  added.  In  1891  the  number  was  increased 
to  eight,  and  in  1897  the  "  Bureau  of  Mines  "  was  created  as 
a  department  of  Internal  Affairs,  which  is  presided  over  by  a 
Chief  of  the  Bureau.  His  duty  is  to  watch  over  the  several 
inspectors  and  see  that  they  prepare  reports,  etc.,  according  to 
the  provisions  laid  down  in  the  law. 

The  inspectors  must  pass  an  examination  before  they  can 
hold  office.  The  examiners  are  two  mining  engineers  and 
three  practical  miners,  who  are  appointed  by  the  courts  of  the 
several  counties,  and  at  the  recommendation  of  operators  and 


MINING   MANAGEMENT   AND   INSPECTION.  97 

workmen.  The  candidate  must  be  thirty  years  of  age,  a  citizen 
of  Pennsylvania,  and  must  have  had  at  least  five  years7  experience 
in  anthracite  coal  mines.  He  must  merit  ninety-per-cent.  marks 
in  the  examination,  and  be  recommended  by  all  the  members  of 
the  board  of  examiners,  before  the  Governor  of  the  State  will 
make  the  appointment.  The  inspectors  hold  office  for  five  years 
and  receive  a  salary  of  $3,000  a  year.*  The  chief  of  the  Bureau 
must  be  a  man  of  scientific  knowledge  of  mining  and  must 
have  had  at  least  10  years'  experience  in  anthracite  coal  mines. 
He  is  appointed  by  the  Governor  for  a  period  of  four  years  at 
a  salary  of  $3,000  a  year  and  traveling  expenses.  He  also  has 
an  assistant  who  receives  a  salary  of  $1,400  a  year  and  a 
messenger  who  gets  $300  a  year.  Thus  we  have  developed  a 
system  of  mine  inspection  that  consumes  in  salaries  every  year 
about  $30,000, f  not  counting  the  outlay  in  printing  7,810 

*  The  Garner  Mine  Inspection  Bill  was  passed  last  June,  and  will  go  into 
effect  January  1,  1902.  It  was  drafted  by  the  representatives  of  the  Miners' 
Union,  whose  committee  at  Harrisburg  carefully  watched  its  progress 
through  the  Legislature.  The  bill  changes  the  manner  of  electing  the  mine 
inspectors.  Its  chief  provisions  are: 

1.  The  Anthracite  Coal  Fields  are  divided  into  six  districts  instead  of 
eight.     The  counties  of  Luzerne,  Lackawanna,  Schuylkill,  Carbon,  North- 
umberland and  Columbia  make  up  the  new  districts. 

2.  The  total  number  of  inspectors  is  to  be  increased  to  sixteen  and  to  be 
elected    by  popular  vote.     Luzerne  county  to  elect  five ;  Lackawanna  and 
Schuylkill  counties,    four    each  ;  Carbon,    Northumberland  and  Columbia 
counties,  one  each.     Each  inspector  will  have  a  salary  of  $3, 000  a  year  and 
expenses,  and  will  hold  office  for  three  years. 

3.  The  candidates  for  the  office  must  pass  a  satisfactory  examination  be- 
fore a  Board  of  Examiners  which  is  appointed  by  court.     They  must  then 
file  their  certificates  of  qualification  with  the  County  Commissioner  before 
their  names  can  be  placed  on  the  ballot. 

4.  The  examination  must  be  held  at  least  six  months  before  the  general 
election  in  November. 

5.  A  duplicate  of  the  inspector's  report  of  the  air  currents  in  each  col- 
liery must  be  posted  in  a  convenient  place  so  that  the  employes  of  that  col- 
liery may  consult  it. 

According  to  the  provisions  of  this  bill,  Northumberland  county  with 
14,697  mine  employes  elects  one  inspector.  Columbia  county  with  2,138 
mine  workers  has  the  same  privilege,  while  Dauphin  county  with  2,390  em- 
ployes has  no  voice  in  the  choice  of  inspectors.  Each  inspector  of  Luzerne 
county  will  have  about  31  mines  to  look  after,  while  those  elected  for  Carbon 
and  Columbia  counties  will  have  14  and  12  mines  respectively. 

f  The  Garner  Bill  doubles  the  number  of  inspectors  and  hence  adds  |24,000 
annually  to  the  above  sum. 
7 


UNIVERSITY 


OF 


98  THE    ANTHRACITE   COAL   INDUSTRY. 

volumes  of  the  annual  report,  and  other  incidental  expenses. 
Besides  these  officials,  there  are  two  clerks  employed,  one  at 
Pottsville  and  another  at  Wilkes-Barre,  appointed  by  the  court 
of  the  county  in  which  they  hold  office,  to  whom  the  inspectors 
are  to  send  "  all  data,  statistics,  matter  and  thing  of  which  they 
severally  are  required  to  take  notice  and  record  "  on  or  before 
the  first  Monday  in  each  and  every  month.  The  clerk  must 
be  a  citizen  of  the  United  States  and  has  a  salary  of  $1,500  a 
year. 

The  Bureau  of  Mines  has  been  expressly  created  for  the 
preservation  of  the  health  and  safety  of  mine  employes.  The 
inspectors  are  able  men  and  discharge  their  duties  with  discre- 
tion and  judgment ;  but  the  impression  which  generally  prevails 
among  mine  employes  is,  that  they  are  in  the  hands  of  the  em- 
ployers and  are  more  or  less  connected  with  political  rings. 
This  sentiment  was  expressed  in  a  mass  meeting  of  miners  ad- 
dressed by  one  of  the  labor  leaders  last  September,  who  was 
applauded  when  he  said  that  he  only  knew  one  law  pertaining 
to  the  mines  which  was  obeyed,  namely,  that  the  inspector 
should  draw  $3,000  a  year  salary.  How  much  politics  there 
is  in  the  Bureau  of  Mines  it  is  hard  to  say,  but  we  can  safely 
presume  that  no  department  of  State  is  free  from  political  in- 
fluence in  a  Commonwealth  which  has  one  of  the  most  perfectly 
organized  political  machines  in  the  country.  How  far  the  in- 
spectors are  in  the  hands  of  the  operators  is  also  difficult  to 
discover.  Here  again  we  can  be  assured  that  the  operators 
cannot  be  expected  to  look  idly  on,  when  an  official  who  is  to 
come  into  such  close  contact  with  their  industry  is  being 
elected.  They  have  millions  of  dollars  in  the  business,  and 
an  obnoxious,  impertinent  and  indiscreet  State  officer  could, 
when  armed  with  authority,  make  himself  very  disagreeable 
and  cause  a  great  amount  of  trouble.  If  the  operators  guard 
against  such  a  contingency,  they  simply  act  to  the  best  interest 
of  the  industry  and  not  from  sinister  motives  in  order  that 
they  may  with  impunity  disregard  the  mining  laws  of  the  State. 
The  miners  know  that  the  mining  laws,  essential  to  health  and 
safety,  are,  on  the  whole,  carried  out.  The  first  duty  imposed 


MINING    MANAGEMENT   AND    INSPECTION.  99 

upon  the  foreman  by  the  corporations  is,  that  he  must  abide 
by  the  mining  laws  of  the  State.  These  are  wise  provisions 
for  safety  and  efficiency  in  mining,  and  considerations  of  self- 
interest,  not  to  say  anything  of  humanitarian  ones,  impel  the 
operators  to  live  up  to  the  requirements  of  the  law.  There 
are  exceptions,  however.  Inspectors  affirm  that  they  have 
more  trouble  with  individual  operators  than  with  large  corpo- 
rations in  securing  compliance  with  mining  laws  and  regulations. 
Occasionally  they  have  to  resort  to  the  courts  to  enforce  pro- 
visions designed  by  the  State  for  the  safety  and  health  of  mine 
employes. 

Many  of  these  laws  have  been  occasioned  by  terrible  dis- 
asters. That  was  the  case  with  the  one  demanding  a  second 
opening  in  anthracite  collieries  where  more  than  ten  men  are 
employed.  One  hundred  and  eight  men  lost  their  lives  in  the 
fall  of  1869  in  Avondale,  Luzerne  county,  because  they  had  no 
way  of  escape  when  the  main  shaft  took  fire.  This  disaster 
also  directed  attention  to  the  subject  of  ventilation,  which  was 
in  a  wretched  condition  at  that  date  in  most  mines  in  these  coal 
fields.  To-day  not  a  colliery  is  operated  without  a  second 
opening,  and  the  ventilation,  generally  speaking,  is  good.  A 
wise  law  was  passed  in  1891,  compelling  the  companies  to  cut 
the  timber  needed  in  the  chambers  to  the  proper  length  and 
to  transport  them  to  the  face  of  the  workings.  Before  that  act 
was  passed,  the  men  themselves  had  to  cut  the  props,  which 
they  often  did  in  the  depth  of  winter  as  they  came  from  the 
mines  clothed  in  wet  garments.  Many  of  the  laws  have  had 
a  beneficent  influence  on  the  health  and  safety  of  the  men  in 
modifying  conditions  which  were  injurious  to  employes.  But 
amid  the  heap  of  legal  regulations  there  is  much  trash  also  ; 
some  laws  perished  at  the  hour  of  inception,  while  others  were 
operative  for  a  season  and  when  their  baneful  effect  was  felt, 
they  died  an  innocuous  death.  A  law  was  passed  in  1891  to 
compel  the  operators  to  provide  wash-houses  at  every  colliery 
where  the  men  may  wash  and  change  their  garments  before 
they  go  home.  It  has  never  been  practicable. 

In  1883,  a  law  was  passed  to  compel  the  companies  to  pay 


100  THE    ANTHRACITE   COAL    INDUSTRY. 

for  every  pound  of  clean  coal  sent  out  by  the  miner — another 
impracticable  law  in  a  colliery  which  turns  out  1,500  tons  a  day. 
In  September  last,  a  parade  of  breaker  boys  took  place  in 
Scranton,  when  the  labor  leaders  showed  the  people  of  that 
city  how  many  boys  from  the  age  of  8  to  12  were  employed  in 
the  breakers.  The  State  law  provides  that  no  child  under  12 
years  can  be  employed.  The  operators  comply  with  the  law 
in  demanding  from  the  parents  of  the  child  a  sworn  statement 
that  the  lad  is  12  years  of  age.  If  boys  under  that  age  are 
employed,  it  is  because  of  the  wilful  perjury  perpetrated  by 
their  parents,  and  the  number  of  perjuries  was  exactly  equal 
to  the  number  of  children  in  the  parade  under  twelve  years 
working  in  the  breaker.  An  act  in  1881  to  regulate  the 
method  of  payment,  etc.,  was  denounced  by  the  court  as  an 
"  infringement  alike  of  the  right  of  the  employer  and  employe  ; 
more  than  this,  it  is  an  insulting  attempt  to  put  a  laborer 
under  legislative  tutelage,  which  is  not  only  degrading  to  his 
manhood,  but  subversive  of  his  rights  as  a  citizen  of  the  United 
States."  The  law  of  1897  to  secure  competent  miners  is  in 
contempt  among  the  men,  and  is  only  well  spoken  of  by  those 
who  got  the  first  appointment  and  went  from  shaft  to  shaft 
issuing  certificates  to  miners  at  the  rate  of  one  hundred  a  day, 
for  twenty-five  cents  a  head.  One  of  the  inspectors  refers  to 
this  law  as  follows  :  "  How  men  such  as  these  [Sclavs]  get 
their  certificates,  I  do  not  know,  but  I  do  know  that  the  law 
granting  them  was  one  of  the  worst  pieces  of  legislation  that 
was  ever  passed  for  this  region,  as  it  has  driven  competent 
miners  coming  to  these  coal  fields  away,  as  they  refuse  to  labor 
for  two  years  with  this  class  of  miners  before  they  can  have  a 
place  for  themselves  to  work."  Many  of  the  certificates  are 
secured  by  false  swearing. 

These  are  a  few  examples  of  unwise  legislation  which  misses 
the  mark  and  inflicts  grave  injury  on  workmen.  Other  laws 
are  a  dead  letter.  They  are  disregarded  by  both  employers  and 
employes.  This  also  has  its  baneful  influence.  It  were  far 
better  that  no  law  were  passed,  than  have  it  a  dead  letter.  In 
the  latter  case,  it  conveys  the  impression  that  the  laws  of  the 


MINING   MANAGEMENT   AND    INSPECTION.  101 

Commonwealth  can  be  disregarded  with  impunity.  This  en- 
genders contempt  of  law,  and  the  executive  power  of  the  State 
becomes  an  object  of  derision.  When  the  Commonwealth  is 
regarded  as  feeble  and  the  laws  a  shuttlecock  of  magnates,  due 
reverence  for  State  authority  declines  and  the  way  is  paved  for 
anarchy.  Citizens  ought  to  be  able  to  look  to  the  Government 
for  protection  and  justice,  but  when  an  impression  prevails  that 
the  power  of  the  State  is  executed  in  the  interest  of  the  few, 
then  the  people  lose  faith  in  law  and  order,  and  in  the  hour 
of  crisis  they  will  resort  to  force  and  mob  rule.  Here  in  the 
anthracite  coal  fields,  we  have  a  mixed  population  of  100,000 
youths  growing  up  under  influences  which  do  not  deepen  their 
reverence  for  law  and  enhance  their  confidence  in  executive 
justice.  They  imagine  that  a  capitalist  can  do  as  he  pleases, 
either  obey  or  disobey  the  law.  They  have  little  faith  in  the 
courts,  and  are  taught  that  between  the  economic  and  legisla- 
tive mill-stones  they  are  ground  to  powder.  This  state  of 
affairs  ought  to  make  legislators  cautious,  courts  sober  and 
capitalists  more  conscientious  as  citizens  and  employers. 

Men  who  imbibe  such  principles  and  cherish  such  views  will, 
in  the  hour  of  conflict,  invariably  appeal  to  the  arbitrament  of 
physical  force.  The  thousands  of  youths  growing  into  man- 
hood need  better  environment  to  develop  those  qualities  which 
will  make  them  loyal  citizens  in  the  Commonwealth  of  Penn- 
sylvania where  they  will  soon  exercise  the  right  of  franchise. 
It  is  in  social  conditions  such  as  prevail  in  many  mining  towns 
that  socialism  takes  root  and  blossoms.  As  the  youths  of  for- 
eign parentage  increase  in  intelligence,  the  anthracite  coal  fields 
will  offer  favorable  conditions  for  the  propagation  of  extrava- 
gant socialistic  doctrines,  unless  counter  influences  are  brought 
to  bear  upon  the  rising  generation  of  mine  employes,  which 
will  preserve  and  safeguard  the  conservative  principles  which 
secure  peace  and  industrial  prosperity. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

EMPLOYES  AND  WAGES. 

1.  PERSONNEL  OF  THE  EMPLOYES.  2.  HISTORICAL  SKETCH  OF  WAGES.  3. 
PRESENT  DAY  WAGES.  4.  VARIATIONS  IN  WAGES.  5.  CUTTING 
DOWN  ALLOWANCES.  6.  FACTORS  AFFECTING  THE  NOMINAL  WAGE. 
7.  SUGGESTIONS.  

The  chief  question  of  the  anthracite  coal  industry  is  the 
wage  question.  Wages  are  the  remuneration  of  the  laborer, 
and  furnish  him  and  his  family  the  means  of  life.  Men  will 
tolerate  many  inconveniences  if  their  wages  are  high,  but  any 
attempt  to  cut  down  their  earnings  produces  discontent  and 
friction.  We  have  seen  that  physical  conditions  vary  greatly 
in  the  anthracite  coal  fields.  In  the  course  of  this  chapter  it 
will  be  made  clear  that  wages  also  vary  greatly,  and  both 
variations  are  closely  connected  with  each  other. 

The  aleatory  element  enters  largely  into  labor  as  well  as  capi- 
tal. A  miner  may  in  one  month  hardly  clear  expenses,  while  in 
another  he  may  earn  $1 50  clear  of  all  expenses.  The  possibility 
of  such  variations  gives  foremen  opportunities  to  favor  friends, 
which  breeds  discontent  among  the  men. 

There  is  a  vast  difference  in  miners.  One  man  engaged  in 
narrow  work  can  hardly  make  a  living,  while  another  in  the 
same  place  will  make  large  wages.  Foremen  differ  greatly. 
Some  act  as  if  they  were  engaged  to  grind  the  faces  of  the 
workmen,  while  others  deal  justly  by  the  men  and  know  ex- 
actly what  a  piece  of  work  is  worth.  There  are  bosses  who  try 
to  cheat  the  men,  and  men  who  try  to  cheat  the  boss.  Opera- 
tors differ  very  much.  The  Eeading  Company,  for  instance, 
has  the  reputation  of  dealing  justly  and  liberally  by  its  em- 
ployes ;  other  companies  are  notorious  for  low  prices,  inaccura- 
cies in  wage  accounts  and  unworthy  schemes  to  defraud  laborers. 
If  these  differences  in  laborers,  foremen  and  operators  are  taken 
into  consideration,  it  will  at  once  appear  evident  that  no  gen- 

102 


EMPLOYES    AND   WAGES.  103 

eral  account  of  wages  can  be  given  which  accurately  corresponds 
to  that  of  any  one  colliery.  In  no  other  industry  is  there  so  &*~ 
great  a  variety  in  the  incomes  of  employes  as  there  is  in  anthra-  « 
cite  mining,  and  in  order  to  give  an  exact  account  of  wages  in 
this  industry,  it  would  be  necessary  to  give  that  of  each  col- 
liery separately.  This  possibly  explains  the  fact  that  in  the 
volume  on  "  Industrial  Statistics  "  of  the  "  Report  of  the  Sec- 
retary of  Internal  Affairs  "  of  Pennsylvania,  about  four  pages 
are  given  to  the  earnings  of  anthracite  coal  employes,  while 
over  forty  are  given  to  the  paper  manufacturing  industry, 
although  the  latter  only  employs  about  one-fiftieth  the  number 
of  persons  found,  and  represents  about  one-fortieth  the  amount 
of  capital  invested,  in  the  former. 

THE    PERSONNEL    OF    THE    EMPLOYES. 

Thirty  years  ago  the  employes  of  the  anthracite  coal  fields 
were  chiefly  English,  Irish,  Scotch,  Welsh  and  German.  To-day, 
in  addition  to  representatives  of  these  nations,  are  Poles,  Little 
Russians,  Hungarians,  Magyars,  Lithuanians,  Slovacks,  Bohe- 
mians, Italians,  and  Swiss,  employed  in  and  around  the  mines. 

In  the  town  of  Shenandoah  twenty  different  languages  are 
spoken.  The  complexion  of  the  anthracite  mining  towns  has 
changed  wholly  in  the  last  thirty  years.  On  the  streets  foreign 
tongues  are  heard ;  the  tall,  dark-complexioned  and  dolicho- 
cephalic Anglo-Saxon  is  largely  supplanted  by  the  thick-set, 
light-haired,  brachycephalic  Sclav ;  the  Polish  and  Russian 
Jew  have  accompanied  these  peoples ;  they  hold  possession  of 
prominent  business  sites  in  mining  towns  and  do  a  thriving 
business.  The  Sclavs*  have  brought  their  religion  with  them, 
and  have  erected  imposing  church  edifices  which  they  liberally 
support.  The  Sclav  has  come  to  stay,  and  a  generation  hence 
the  vast  majority  of  laborers  in  the  anthracite  mines  will  be  of 
that  character. 

Cheap  labor  was  first  introduced  into  these  coal  fields  because 
of  friction  between  capitalists  and  laborers.  Before  the  Civil 

*  The  word  Sclavs  is  used  in  this  work  as  a  general  term  to  designate  im- 
migrants to  the  anthracite  coal  fields  from  Russia,  Austro-Hungary,  etc., 
although  some  of  them — Lithuanians,  Bohemians,  etc.,  do  not  belong  to  the 
Sclav  nations. 


104  THE    ANTHRACITE    COAL   INDUSTRY. 

War  amicable  relations  prevailed  between  the  cooperative  forces. 
Then  in  the  majority  of  collieries  employer  and  employes  lived 
side  by  side  and  could  peacefully  adjust  their  differences.  But 
as  concentration  of  capital  went  on,  and  the  disturbing  influ- 
ences, due  to  scarcity  of  labor,  checked  immigration  and  in- 
creased demand  for  coal,  were  felt,  distrust  supplanted  confi- 
dence, antagonism  took  the  place  of  cooperation,  and  for  a  dec- 
ade, from  1865-1875,  strikes,  lock-outs,  suspensions,  prevailed 
everywhere.  The  operators  naturally  looked  for  relief.  Labor 
had  largely  passed  beyond  their  control.  Superintendent 
Kulich,  of  Coxe  &  Co.,  is  said  to  have  been  the  first  to  bring 
over  some  of  his  fellow  countrymen  from  Hungary,  in  the  year 
1870.  The  following  is  the  statement  of  T.  V.  Powderly  in 
his  "Thirty  Years  of  Labor"  (pages  428-429).  "The  im- 
migration from  Poland  began  to  make  itself  felt  in  1872,  and 
though  the  Poles  were  poor  and  ignorant  of  our  laws  they  were 
anxious  to  learn,  and  soon  began  to  improve  their  condition. 
The  tide  began  to  set  in  from  Hungary  in  1877.  The  railroad 
strike  of  that  year  created  a  desire  on  the  part  of  railroad 
operators  to  secure  the  services  of  cheap,  docile  men,  who 
would  tamely  submit  to  restrictions  and  impositions.  Hun- 
gary was  flooded  with  advertisements  which  set  forth  the 
great  advantages  to  be  gained  by  emigration  to  America. 
The  Italian  immigration  had  been  going  on  for  several  years,  but 
no  authentic  record  of  the  actual  hiring  of  men  abroad  for  ser- 
vice in  the  United  States  is  obtainable  beyond  the  year  1880." 

The  expressed  purpose  of  introducing  these  peoples  into  the 
anthracite  coal  fields  was  to  break  the  power  of  Anglo-Saxon 
employes,  who  had  become,  during  the  years  of  prosperity,  in- 
tolerably arrogant  and  arbitrary. 

There  is  to-day  in  the  anthracite  coal  fields  a  population  of 
nearly  100,000  Sclavs.  Statistics  taken  of  150  shafts  in  1897, 
employing  59,823  persons,  showed  23,402  native  born,  13,521 
native  citizens  and  22,860  aliens.  In  three  shafts  in  Lacka- 
wanna  county,  over  75  per  cent,  of  the  employes  are  Sclavs. 
Under  the  Delaware  and  Hudson  Company,  40  per  cent,  of 
the  mining  force  is  of  this  class.  Under  the  Reading  from  20 
to  25  per  cent,  of  the  force  underground  are  Sclavs. 


EMPLOYES    AND    WAGES.  105 

In  1898,  out  of  294  miners'  certificates  issued  in  the  Fourth 
District,  183,  or  62.24  per  cent.,  were  given  to  this  class  of 
laborers.  In  stripping  mining  in  the  Fifth  District  not  a  single 
English-speaking  employe,  except  the  foreman,  is  engaged. 
In  three  shafts  in  Schuylkill  county  operated  by  individuals, 
the  force  underground  was  over  70  per  cent.  Sclav.  If  we 
leave  out  the  breaker  boys,  who  form  about  13  per  cent,  of  the 
anthracite  employes,  and  count  only  laborers  over  1 6  years  of 
age,  from  25  to  30  per  cent,  of  the  employes  in  the  anthracite 
coal  fields  are  Sclavs,  or  between  30,000  and  35,000  in  all. 
They  are  not  uniformly  distributed.  In  the  Lykens  and 
Panther  Creek  Valleys  very  few  are  to  be  found,  while  in 
Shenandoah  and  Nanticoke  they  are  largely  in  the  majority. 
Scores  of  collieries  to-day  cannot  work  when  the  Sclavs  observe 
a  religious  holiday.  Anthracite  mining  cannot  at  present  get 
along  without  the  Sclav. 

The  anthracite  industry  seems  to  have  been  always  afflicted 
with  surplus  labor.  In  1849,  the  Pottsville  Miners'  Journal 
says  that  half  the  number  of  collieries  in  Schuylkill  could  sup- 
ply the  market  demand.  Now-a-days  also,  the  general  com- 
plaint is  that  there  are  too  many  men. 

This  surplus  labor  has  been  able  to  exist  in  the  anthracite 
coal  fields  because  of  the  unnecessary  increase  in  the  number 
of  collieries,  which  was  partly  due  to  the  desire  for  gain,  and 
partly  to  the  system  of  distribution  of  railroad  cars  adopted 
by  the  carrying  companies.  The  annual  tonnage  to  be  mar- 
keted is,  during  years  when  a  community  of  interests  exists 
between  the  railroads,  divided  between  the  various  carrying 
companies  according  to  the  capacity  of  the  breakers  in  the 
territory  controlled  by  them.  According  to  this  system  of  dis- 
tribution the  larger  the  capacity  of  the  collieries  of  any  corpora- 
tion or  individual  operator,  the  larger  share  can  he  claim  of 
the  tonnage  to  be  produced.  This  induced  many  operators  to 
open  collieries  which  were  not  necessary  to  meet  the  market 
demand,  and  which  they  could  not,  in  years  when  prices  were 
kept  at  a  remunerative  point,  hope  to  operate  more  than  half 
or  two-thirds  time.  All  these  collieries,  however,  employed  a 


106  THE    ANTHRACITE    COAL   INDUSTRY. 

force  adequate  to  operate  them  to  the  full  extent  of  their  capac- 
ity, but  the  demand  for  coal  not  permitting  this,  the  necessary 
result  was  intermittent  labor.  The  number  of  men  employed 
could  produce  at  half  time  the  supply  the  market  demanded  at 
remunerative  prices. 

The  nature  of  the  coal  trade  also  favors  surplus  labor.  An- 
thracite is  chiefly  used  for  domestic  consumption,  which  varies 
with  the  seasons  of  the  year.  A  hard  winter  will  enable  all 
the  mines  to  work  nine  hours  a  day  for  possibly  three  or  four 
months  in  succession.  Then  comes  a  falling  off  in  the  demand 
as  the  weather  grows  milder,  and  the  result  is  intermittent  labor. 
Coal  cannot,  to  any  large  extent,  be  produced  in  summer  and 
stored  away  for  winter.  It  is  best  stored  in  the  mines.  It  is 
too  bulky  for  yards  in  close  proximity  to  cities,  and  the  work 
of  loading  and  unloading  is  expensive.  These  difficulties 
make  it  impossible  to  regulate  production,  so  as  to  give  the 
employes  regular  work  the  year  round.  Hence,  when  a  rush 
of  orders  comes,  all  hands  are  employed.  When  demand  is  at 
its  lowest  ebb,  the  breakers  are  put  on  half  time. 

The  table  on  the  opposite  page  shows  the  annual  increase  or  de- 
crease in  the  number  of  employes  and  of  tons  produced  from  the 
year  1870  to  1899  inclusive.  The  accompanying  chart  also 
shows  how  labor  during  these  years  fluctuated  with  production. 
All  through  these  years  there  has  been  surplus  labor.  More 
labor  is  needed  to  produce  coal  from  the  deeper  seams,  but  im- 
provement in  the  art  of  mining  has  more  than  offset  the  extra 
demand  for  labor  on  this  account. 

The  table  shows  that  the  average  net  increase  per  year  for 
the  29  years  in  the  number  of  employes  was  4.92  per  cent.; 
while  the  average  net  increase  per  year  in  the  amount  of  produc- 
tion was  6.154  per  cent.  A  conservative  estimate  of  the  in- 
creased production  due  to  improvement  in  machinery  during 
the  last  quarter  of  a  century  is  put  at  50  per  cent.  This  is 
the  reason  why  the  number  of  tons  produced  and  the  number 
of  men  employed  have  been  kept  at  about  the  same  ratio,  not- 
withstanding the  increased  difficulties  to  be  contended  with  in 
mining. 


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EMPLOYES    AND    WAGES. 


107 


TABLE  SHOWING  INCREASE  IN   NUMBER  OF  EMPLOYES  AND  IN  AMOUNT 

OF  PRODUCTION. 


Year. 

Number 
of 
Employes. 

Per  cent, 
of 
Increase. 

Per  cent, 
of 
Decrease. 

Tons  of 
Production. 

Per  cent, 
of 
Increase. 

Per  cent, 
of 
Decrease. 

1870 

-35',  600  ) 

12,  653,  575  "h 

1871 

37,488 

5.3# 

13,868,087 

9.6/, 

1872 

44,745 

19.4 

13,899,976 

O 

1873 

48,199 

7.7 

18,751,358 

3^9 

1874 

53,402 

10.8 

17,794,857 

5.1# 

1875 

69,966 

31.0 

20,895,220 

17.4 

1876 

70,474 

.72 

19,611,071 

6.1 

1877 

66,842 

5.1  # 

22,077,869 

12.6 

1878 

63,964 

4.2 

18,661,577 

15.4 

1879 
1880 

68,847 
73,373^ 

7.6 
6.6 

27,711,250 
C23,843,476 

48.0 

10.3 

1881 

76,031 

3.6 

^30,210,018 

21.6 

1882 

83,242 

9.5 

30,867,301 

2.2 

1883 

91,411 

9.8 

33,200,608 

7.5 

1884 

101,078 

10.5 

33,561,390 

1.9 

1885 

~  100,534 

33,520,941 

2.9 

1886 

103,034 

2.5 

34,064,543 

1.6 

1887 

106,574 

3.4 

37,137,251 

9.0 

1888 

117,290 

10.0 

41,638,426 

.12.1 

1889 

112*007 

1.5 

30,015,835 

27.9 

1890 

--10V6O 

8.2 

-40,080,355 

>    33.5 

1891 

123,345 

13.0 

44,320,967 

10.6 

1892 

129,797 

5.2 

45,738,373 

3.2 

1893 

138,002 

6.3 

47,179,563 

3.2 

v  1894 

139,655 

1.2 

45,506,179 

3.5 

1895 

143,610 

2.8 

51,207,000 

12.5 

1896 

149,670 

4.2 

48,074,330 

6.1 

1897. 

149,557 

.07 

46,947.354 

2.3 

1898 

142,420 

5.4 

47,145,174 

.42 

^•-1899 

140,583 

1.29 

54,034,224 

14.61 

The  employes  are  generally  classified  into  inside  and  outside 
laborers.  They  are  then  subdivided  according  to  the  work  they 
do,  as  follows : 

CLASSIFICATION    OF    EMPLOYES. 


Inside  Employes. 

Number. 

Outside  Employes. 

Number. 

IVIiners     >    .  .              

36  000 

Mechanics  

2  000 

Miners'  Laborers  

24  000 

Company  Laborers  

8,000 

Plateman        

750 

Breaker-boys  

16,000 

Drivers    .  .        

10,000 

Headmen  

750 

Runners  

1,000 

Engineers  

1,200 

Engineers     

1,500 

Firemen  

3,300 

Door-boys  

3,000 

Brattice-men                      ~\ 

Barn  -men 

Ti  mbe  rmen 

Culm-men 

Trackmen 

12  562 

Drivers 

18,703 

Pump-runners 

Chute-men 

Company  Laborers  .  .  .  . 

Clerks      

Bosses  

1,300 

Bosses,  etc  

797 

108  THE   ANTHRACITE    COAL   INDUSTRY. 

A  colliery  producing  1,300  tons  a  day  of  eight  hours  would 
employ  about  800  persons,  of  whom  150  would  be  miners,  150 
laborers,  300  companymen  inside,  and  200  outside.  These 
proportions  would  vary  according  to  the  conditions  of  the  col- 
liery. In  the  Northern  coal  field,  a  miner  and  laborer  gener- 
ally work  together.  In  the  Southern  and  Middle  coal  fields, 
this  is  the  case  when  the  miners  work  by  the  car,  but  if  they 
cut  coal  by  the  yard,  they  generally  work  in  "  butties."  Miners 
sometimes  cut  coal  and  load  it,  in  order  to  increase  their  wages. 
This  practice,  however,  is  discountenanced  by  the  men  as  un- 
becoming the  dignity  of  miners. 

HISTORICAL   SKETCH    OF    WAGES. 

Old  miners  say  that  the  real  wages  of  men  in  the  coal  fields 
are  as  high  to-day  as  they  have  ever  been.  In  this  estimate 
they  compute  the  amount  of  commodities  men  can  procure 
with  the  money  they  earn.  The  history  of  the  wages  paid  in 
this  industry  during  the  last  sixty  years  shows  great  fluctu- 
ation, as  may  be  seen  from  the  accompanying  chart ;  but  the 
difference  during  this  period  in  the  purchasing  power  of  the  dol- 
lar makes  the  difference  in  the  amounts  received  by  the  workmen 
far  less  significant  than  at  first  would  appear.  Three  periods 
of  twenty  years  each  stand  out  distinctly  in  the  chart :  From 
1840  to  1860,  wages  were  low,  averaging  about  $1.05  a  day. 
From  1860  to  1880,  great  variation  existed,  and  the  fluctua- 
tions were  remarkable.  The  maximum  was  reached  in  1869 
when  wages  were  $18.18  a  week  and  the  minimum,  in  1861 
when  $6.48  was  paid.  The  third  period,  from  1880  to  1900, 
presents  greater  uniformity  than  the  previous  one.  Wages 
were  adjusted  in  1880,  and  since  that  date  to  last  October,  no 
reduction  or  advance  was  made  in  the  Northern  coal  field,  and 
the  changes  in  the  Middle  and  Southern  fields  were  due  to  the 
sliding  scale,  which  was  in  vogue  there  for  thirty  years,  and 
abandoned  last  fall  at  the  request  of  the  men. 

In  1839-1847,  the  following  wages  were  paid  by  one  of  the 
mining  companies  in  the  Pottsville  district : 


EMPLOYES   AND    WAGES. 


109 


Year. 

Miner,  per 
day. 

Laborer,  per 
day. 

Year. 

Miner,  per 
day. 

Laborer,  per 
day. 

1839 
1840 
1842 
1844 

$1.00 
1.00 

.875 
1.10 

.82 
.80 
.70 
.76 

1845 
1846 
1847 
1848 

$1.13 
1.25 
1.25 
1.25 

.80 
.83 
.83 
.83 

Senator  Cameron,  addressing  the  United  States  Senate  in 
1847,  said  that  the  mining  laborers  in  1840  got  $5.00  a  week, 
while  in  1846  they  got  from  $8.00  to  $10.00  a  week.  In 
1849,  men  cut  coal  for  32  cents  a  ton,  and  made  in  six  days 
$8.00.  Daring  these  years,  operators  were  largely  dependent 
on  canal  transportation.  These  artificial  water-ways  were  frozen 
in  the  winter  months  and  very  little  mining  was  done.  Hence 
we  find  a  difference  between  the  winter  and  summer  rate  of 
wages  paid  for  mining  coal.  In  Tamaqua,  the  operators  paid 
$1.50  a  day  in  summer,  and  $1.25  in  winter.  In  the  fifties, 
coal  was  cut  in  Pitts  ton  and  Scranton  for  35  cents  a  ton,  and 
men  considered  themselves  fortunate  if  they  made  from  $25.00 
to  $30.00  a  month  during  the  busy  season. 

During  these  years,  the  laborers  loaded  coal  for  12  J  cents  a 
car,  and  earned  87J  cents  a  day  by  loading  seven  cars.  The 
rate  of  wages  paid  the  laborers  varied  also  according  to  the  con- 
dition of  the  trade. 

The  Pottsville  Miners'  Journal  states  that  in  1848,  when 
the  mines  started  after  a  suspension,  men  worked  for  $3.50  a 
week,  and  took  that  out  in  orders.  In  the  following  year, 
wages  fell  to  60  cents  a  day.  In  1850,  the  laborer  got  from 
60  cents  to  65  cents  a  day,  and  the  miner  from  80  cents  to  90 
cents.  These  were  low  wages,  but  they  were  actually  lower 
than  the  amounts  specified,  for  the  men  were  not  paid  in  money. 
They  had  to  take  their  earnings  out  in  goods  which  made  a 
difference  of  from  15  to  20  per  cent,  against  the  wage  earner. 

Soon  after  the  Civil  War  commenced,  wages  showed  a  strong 
tendency  to  rise.  This  was  due  to  several  reasons.  One  was 
a  greater  demand  for  coal  consequent  upon  the  increased  ac- 
tivities due  to  the  war.  Another  reason  was  the  inflation  of 
the  currency  due  to  the  exigencies  of  the  government  and  the 
action  of  the  commercial  world  depreciating  the  paper  money 


110  THE   ANTHRACITE    COAL    INDUSTRY. 

put  in  circulation.  Commodities  rapidly  advanced  in  prices 
and  wages  necessarily  rose  also  to  enable  the  workmen  to  live. 
The  miners  earned  big  money  but  they  also  paid  big  prices  for 
mining  supplies,  food  and  clothing.  But  the  chief  reason  was 
the  scarcity  of  labor.  Many  of  the  miners  left  for  the  front, 
and  during  the  years  of  strife,  immigration  into  the  coal  fields 
from  the  British  Isles  fell  off  considerably.  The  wages  of  labor 
advanced  from  100  to  300  per  cent.  In  Ashland,  Schuyl- 
kill  county,  a  miner  got  $4.00  a  yard  for  cutting  coal  in  1860, 
and  $14.00  for  the  same  work  in  1869.  In  the  Northern  coal 
field  coal  that  was  cut  for  70  cents  a  car  advanced  to  $2.00 
a  car.  It  was  a  common  occurrence  for  miners  to  draw  $200 
pay  for  a  month's  work,  while  some  in  narrow  work  made  as 
high  as  $400.  In  the  fall  of  1865,  a  reduction  of  20  per  cent, 
was  made,  and  in  1867  another  reduction  of  7J  per  cent.  At 
this  time  the  Workingmen's  Benevolent  Association  came  to 
power,  and  during  1868-1870,  wages  advanced  higher  than 
they  had  ever  been.  The  tidal  wave  was  soon  spent,  and  in 
the  fall  of  1870  a  reduction  of  30  per  cent,  was  made ;  from 
that  date  to  1877,  notwithstanding  many  strikes  and  sus- 
pensions, the  employes  were  powerless  to  resist  the  reduction 
of  wages.  A  general  depression  prevailed,  wages  reached  a 
lower  point  in  1877  than  they  had  for  the  past  thirteen  years. 
Coal  was  cut  for  80  cents  a  car.  In  1878,  the  operators  volun- 
tarily gave  an  advance  in  wages  of  10  per  cent.,  and  in  the 
following  year  they  gave  another  advance  of  15  per  cent.,  thus 
giving  the  miners  in  "the  Northern  coal  field  an  average  of  $1.00 
a  car  for  mining  coal. 

In  the  Southern  and  Middle  fields,  where  the  sliding  scale 
prevailed,  wages  were  adjusted  by  the  following  scale  :  when  coal 
sold  at  tide- water  for  $5.00  a  ton,  the  miner  got  $14.00  a  week, 
the  laborer  $12.00  and  outside  company  hands  $11.00,  and  for 
each  advance  or  decline  in  prices  above  or  below  $5.00  the  men 
were  to  be  advanced  or  reduced  10  per  cent,  in  their  wages. 

At  these  points  wages  remained  between  1880  and  1900,  as 
far  as  prices  paid  for  mining  coal  are  concerned.  Changes  were 
made,  as  we  shall  see,  in  allowances  given  the  miner  for  inci- 


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EMPLOYES   AND    WAGES. 


Ill 


dental  work,  which  reduced  his  wages.  Last  fall,  an  advance 
of  10  per  cent,  was  conceded  the  miners  after  a  strike  of  forty 
days. 

PRESENT    DAY   WAGES. 

The  rate  of  wages  paid  before  the  recent  advance  is  the  fol- 
lowing. There  are  variations  in  almost  every  locality.  We 
give  the  rates  in  the  Northern  and  Southern  coal  fields,  which 
is  a  fair  representation  of  the  wages  paid  labor  in  the  anthracite 
industry.  Ten  per  cent,  added  to  these  rates  will  give  the 
wages  now  paid  in  these  regions. 

INSIDE   LABOK. 


Classification. 

Northern. 

Southern. 

Mine-foremen  (per  month). 

from  $75  to  $100 

from  $75  to  $110 

Assistant-foremen         l  * 

"        60  to      75 

60  to    75 

Driver-boss  (per  week). 

"        12  to    13.50 

"   10.50  to    12.00 

Barn-boss. 

$1.45  (per  day). 

$40  (per  month). 

Miners  (per  day). 

"     2.25  to      2.50 

"  $1.93  to  $2.  25 

Miners'  laborer  (per  day). 

"     2.00  to      2.25 

"     1.75  to    2.00 

Masons,  carpenters,  etc.  (per 

day). 

"    1.90  to      2.25 

"     1.70  to    2.00 

Footmen  (per  day). 

"    1.60  to      1.65 

"     1.60  to    1.70 

Pumpmen  and  inside  engineer 

(per  day). 
Drivers  and  runners  (per  day). 

"    1.60  to     1.98 
"    1.05  to      1.37 

"     1.33  to    1.66 
"     1.15  to    1.71 

Drivers'  helpers 

"      .75  to      1.00 

"       .90  to    1.00 

Door  and  fan-boys 

"      .73  to      1.00 

"       .75  to    1.00 

General  utility  men 

11    1.69  to      1.98 

"     1.70  to    1.86 

Loaders  and  starters        " 

Not  in  Northern  Field. 

"     1.50  to    1.70 

OUTSIDE   LABOK. 


Classification. 

Northern. 

Southern. 

Outside  foremen  (per  month). 

$75 

$75 

Breaker  boss 

50 

from     $50  to  $60 

Hoisting  engineer  (per  day). 

from  $2.  00  to  $2.  31 

"     $1.83  to  $2.00 

Firemen 

"      1.50  to    1.56 

"       1.30  to    1.36 

Blacksmith 

$2.15 

$2.00 

Carpenter 

2.03 

2.00 

Machinist 

2.15 

from  $2.  00  to  $2.  10 

Helpers 

from  $1.45  to  $1.75 

"       1.00  to    1.50 

Common  laborers 

"      1.25  to    1.45 

"       1.00  to    1.40 

Drivers 

"        .90  to    1.10 

"        .90  to    1.00 

Headmen 

"      1.45  to    1.69 

"       1.40  to    1.50 

Culm-men 

"      1.30  to    1.45 

"      1.30  to    1.50 

Breaker  boys 

"        .50  to      .75 

"        .50  to      .75 

Most  of  the  above  classes  of  labor  are  paid  by  the  hour. 
The  amount  of  their  wages  corresponds  to  the  number  of  hours 


112  THE   ANTHRACITE    COAL   INDUSTRY. 

worked  by  the  breaker.  The  average  number  of  days  worked 
daring  the  last  25  years  was  189.08  days  which,  if  we  com- 
pute 300  days  as  a  year's  work,  makes  the  real  wage  of  these 
classes  36.97  per  cent,  less  than  the  nominal.  Foremen,  as- 
sistant foremen,  hoisting  engineers,  pump-men,  barn  bosses, 
and  firemen  receive  regular  monthly  salaries  which  are  paid 
them  regardless  of  the  time  worked  by  the  breaker.  The 
miners  work  under  the  contract  system,  which  varies  in  different 
localities.  In  the  Northern  field  the  men  are  paid  so  much  per 
car  of  coal  mined.  The  Delaware  and  Hudson  Canal  Com- 
pany pays  by  the  ton,  giving  the  miners  from  67  cents  to  72 J 
cents  for  every  ton  of  clean  coal  they  mine.  Some  individual 
companies  also  pay  by  the  ton.  Most  of  the  companies,  how- 
ever, pay  by  the  car,  paying  from  87  cents  to  $1.20  a  car,  ac- 
cording to  the  nature  of  the  vein  and  the  size  of  the  car.  Cars 
vary  in  size  from  a  capacity  of  70  cubic  feet  to  140  cubic  feet. 

The  miners'  laborers  are  paid  by  the  miners.  The  scale  of 
settlement  in  the  Northern  field  is  that  the  laborer  gets  one- 
third  value  of  the  gross  earnings  of  the  miner.  It  is  gener- 
ally computed,  however,  on  the  basis  of  $2.00  a  day  for  loading 
six  cars.  In  addition  to  this  the  laborer  gets  one-third  of  the 
allowance  paid  the  miner  for  rock-work  and  timbering. 

All  tools  and  supplies  are  to  be  furnished  by  the  miner. 
His  outlay  for  an  outfit  necessary  for  cutting  coal  would  be  ap- 
proximately as  follows  : 

MINER'S  OUTFIT. 
Drilling  machine  for  coal  from  $7.50 

to  $10:   average $8.25 

Drilling  machine  for  rock 8.25 

Pick,  75c.     Shovel,  50c 1.25 

Drill  from  $1.25  to  $1.50:    average 1.35 

Needle,  25c.     Scraper,  25c 50 

Axe,  $1.00.      Saw,  75c 1.75 

Total $21.35 

If  he  works  in  a  vein  of  coal  which  pitches  at  an  angle  of 
from  20  to  35  degrees,  he  must  get  a  chain  and  pulley  to  hold 
the  car  in  place,  which  will  necessitate  an  extra  outlay  of  from 

$12  to  $15. 


EMPLOYES    AND    WAGES. 


113 


His  incidental  expenses  per  month,  not  counting  the  price 
paid  for  powder,  would  be  : 

INCIDENTAL    EXPENSES   PER    MONTH. 

One  file  to  sharpen  drill 18 

Cotton  and  oil 65 

Fuse , 13 

Sharpening  tools. . .  ... 50 

Wear  and  tear  of  tools i 63 

Total . $2.09 

\  /' 

In  computing  the  miner's  wages,  these  items  should  be  taken 

into  consideration.  The  item  of  powder  varies  greatly,  as  we 
shall  see  below.  Powder  expense,  however,  is  kept  from  the 
miner's  wages  in  the  office,  and  is  not  to  be  paid  out  of  what 
he  receives  in  cash  from  the  operator.  From  a  computation 
based  on  over  500  due-bills  gathered  from  miners  in  different 
parts  of  the  coal  fields,  we  find  the  wages  of  miners  varying 
from  $75.00  to  $30.00  a  month,  while  the  wages  of  laborers 
vary  from  $45.00  to  $18.00  a  month.  Wages  depend  upon 
the  number  of  days  worked  by  the  men.  The  miners  under 
the  Pennsylvania  Coal  Co.  made  on  an  average  in  August,  1900, 
after  paying  all  expenses,  $2.60  a  day,  and  the  laborers  $1.67  a 
day.  Miners  under  this  company  averaged  from  January  first 
until  August,  1900,  $2.55  a  day,  laborers,  $1.67  a  day.  The 
following  is  the  average  earnings  of  miners  and  laborers  as 
computed  from  due -bills  of  wages  paid  them  in  the  years  1898- 
1899: 

WAGES    OF    MINERS   AND    LABORERS. 


Class. 

Time. 

Total 
Earnings. 

Average  per 
Month. 

16  months. 
21        " 
21 
7 
7 
25 
20 
11 
18 
18 
18        " 
13 
13        " 

$392.35 
516.17 
725.72 
170.53 
149.70 
839.00 
348.77 
465.95 
787.41 
725.09 
540.90 
383.97 
243.36 

$24.51 
24.58 
34.56 
24.36 
21.40 
33.56 
17.44 
42.35 
43.63 
40.28 
30.05 
29.53 
18.72 

Miner 

Laborer                    . 

Miner  .  . 

Laborer  ..            . 

Miner  

Miner  

Miner  

Laborer  

Miner  

Laborer  

114  THE    ANTHRACITE   COAL,    INDUSTRY. 

This  gives  us  the  average  earnings  of  the  miner  per  month  as 
$34.10,  and  that  of  the  laborer  as  $22.40,  or  an  average  of 
$1.37  a  day  for  the  miner,  and  90  cents  for  the  laborer,  count- 
ing twenty-five  working  days  in  the  month. 

\  Here,  then,  we  have  a  discrepancy  between  the  operator's 
statement  and  that  based  on  the  due-bills  of  the  men  :  the  one 
$2.60,  the  other  $1.37  a  day,  for  the  miner;  and  $1.67  and  90 
cents  for  the  laborer.  This  contradiction  meets  the  investigator 
into  the  wages  earned  by  mining  employes  throughout  the  an- 
thracite coal  fields.  The  operators  say  miners  make  $2.50  a 
day ;  the  miners  say,  we  make  $1.50  a  day.  The  expla- 
nation lies  in  the  different  points  of  view  of  the  speakers.  The 
operator  computes  the  miner's  earnings  per  day  of  ten  hours  or 
per  six  cars  of  coal  mined  which  constitutes  a  shift ;  the  miner 
computes  his  total  earnings  in  the  year,  and  proportions  that 
for  every  day  he  goes  into  the  mines,  and  says  "  The  wages 
which  I  earn  per  day  I  go  into  the  mines  are  $1.50,"  but  he 
does  not  say  how  many  hours  on  an  average  he  works  per  day. 
The  miners  who  earn  on  an  average  throughout  the  year  $1.50 
a  day  for  300  days  only  work  five  or  six  hours  a  day.  It  is 
true  that  they  go  into  the  mines  every  day,  but  the  time  they 
spend  in  the  mines,  computed  by  a  shift  of  ten  hours,  amounts 
to  only  half  a  shift.  Hence  the  operator  is  correct  in  his  com- 
putation based  on  six  cars  of  mined  coal  as  a  day's  work ;  but 
there  is  reason  also  in  the  miner's  statement,  for  he  and  his 
family  must  regulate  their  living  according  to  the  average  rate 
of  wages  earned  by  him,  namely,  $1.50  a  day. 

VARIATIONS    IN    WAGES.  , 

The  operators  classify  miners  as  good,  medium  and  poor,  and 
attribute  all  variations  in  wages  to  the  differences  in  the  capacity 
and  skill  of  their  employes.  The  mjjoexs-jdassi^  chambers  as 
"bully,"  "just^so,"  and  "  rotten,"  and  explain  all  variations  in 
earnings  by  the  differences  in  the  veins  of  coal.  Both  parties 
state  a  truth,  and  both  facts  must  enter  into  the  explanation  of 
the  differences  in  the  earnings  of  men. 

In  opening  a  new  vein  the  following  system  is  adopted  to 


EMPLOYES   AND   WAGES.  115 

fix  prices.  Two  of  the  best  workmen  are  chosen  and  set  to 
work.  They  are  paid  $2.50  each  a  day  and  supplied  with  all 
tools  and  powder  by  the  company.  They  work  for  a  month, 
at  the  close  of  which  the  foreman  counts  the  expenses  incurred, 
measures  the  progress  made  by  the  men,  computes  the  amount 
of  rock  removed  and  the  cars  of  coal  produced,  and  adjusts 
prices  per  car  and  per  yard  of  rock,  so  that  a  miner  of  the 
capacity  of  the  chosen  men  can  make  $2.50  a  day.  But  all 
men  are  not  equal,  and  the  same  vein  differs  in  various  sections 
so  that  the  same  man  might  be  able  to  earn  $2.50  a  day  in  one 
part  of  it  but  in  another  cannot  make  $1.50. 

The  Clark  vein  operated  by  the  Delaware,  Lackawanna  and 
Western  in  the  Scran  ton  district  illustrates  this  variation.  In 
one  shaft  the  company  pays  $1.05J  per  car,  in  another  shaft  a 
mile  away,  95  J  cents  and  in  a  shaft  two  miles  farther,  87  cents. 
Here  the  officials  recognize  the  difference  in  working  the  same 
vein,  and  pay  in  one  shaft  21.26  per  cent,  more  per  car  for 
mining  coal  from  it  than  in  a  neighboring  colliery. 

Men  say  that  there  are  many  inexplicable  differences  in  prices  ' 
under  the  same  company  as  well  as  under  different  companies. ; 
The  Delaware  and  Hudson  pays  71.5  cents  per  ton  for  mining; 
coal  in  the  14-foot  vein,  and  67  cents  a  ton  for  mining  coal  from  a 
5-foot  vein.     But  in  the  latter  yardage  on  rock  is  given.     The 
Lehigh  Valley  pays  87  cents  a  car  for  coal  from  the  Mammoth 
vein,  about  30  feet  thick,   and   97    cents   per  car  from   the  ; 
Wharton  vein,  about  1 0  feet  thick.     As  respects  the  price  paid 
per  yard  for  driving  cross-cuts,  we  have  the  following  differ- 
ences in  rates:  75  cents,  $1.16,  $1.41,  and  $2.12;  and  that 
for  the  very  same  work.     The  same  is  true  of  rock-work ;  in  one 
place  50  cents  a  yard  is  paid,  in  another,  75  cents,  and  in  another, 
$1.00.     This  variation  is  explained  by  the  difference  in  the 
nature  of  the  rock,  whether  it  is  soft  sandstone,  shale,  or  fire- 
clay.   Prices  paid  for  standing  timber  show  the  same  variation. 
The  same  man  working  in  different  places  in  the  same  vein  and 
under  the  same  company,  can  get  50  cents,  $1.00,  and  $1.50 
for  standing  a  set  of  timber  across  the   roadway.     One  com- 
pany pays  68  cents  a  pair,  another  75  cents  and  another  $1.70, 


116  THE   ANTHRACITE   COAL    INDUSTRY. 

and  the  work,  if  done  as  safety  demands  it  to  be  done,  is  the 
very  same.  When  timber  goes  over  a  certain  size,  special  prices 
are  paid.  Difference  exists  in  the  allowance  given  to  miners 
for  opening  chambers.  Under  the  Delaware  and  Hudson  this 
allowance  is  $9.03;  under  the  Lackawanna  Coal  Co.,  $3.50; 
under  the  Delaware,  Lackawanna  and  Western,  $3.57  ;  and 
under  the  Lehigh  and  Wilkes-Barre,  nothing. 

These  are  some  of  the  differences  in  prices,  which  tell  upon 
the  aggregate  wages  of  the  men.  They  are  the  occasion  of 
agitation,  and  when  the  United  Mine  Workers  ask  for  a  uni- 
formity of  prices,  their  plea  is  justified  by  the  great  inequalities 
which  now  exist  in  different  sections  of  the  anthracite  coal  fields. 

There  are  variations  which  cannot  be  adjusted  by  fixed  prices, 
but  there  is  no  reason  why  this  could  not  be  done  on  work  which 
requires  equal  exertion  and  skill.  Some  of  the  above  variations 
are  explained  by  the  different  systems  adopted  by  foremen  and 
superintendents  to  fix  prices.  But  as  long  as  they  exist  they 
furnish  employes  plausible  occasions  of  complaint. 

CUTTING   DOWN   ALLOWANCES. 

Operators  say  that  prices  have  been  uniform  for  the  last  20 
years.  This  is  true  as  far  as  the  price  paid  for  the  car  of  coal 
is  concerned,  but  it  is  not  true  of  the  allowances  given  the 
miner  for  accessory  work  in  mining ;  and  when  the  tributaries 
are  cut  off,  the  stream  perceptibly  diminishes.  The  price  per 
car  was  left  intact,  but  foremen  in  almost  every  locality  in  the 
coal  fields  cut  down  prices  for  work  the  miner  must  do  in  order 
to  carry  on  the  work  of  mining.  One  man  who  brought 
upon  himself  the  wrath  of  the  workmen  which  well-nigh  cost 
him  his  life,  did  the  following :  75  cents  a  slab  was  paid  for 
man  way,  he  took  it  off ;  50  cents  a  yard  was  paid  for  a  stratum 
of  slate  which  came  down  with  the  coal,  he  took  that  off;  $7.84 
was  paid  for  opening  chambers,  he  told  the  men  that  they  must 
open  them  for  nothing ;  laborers  who  got  $2.00  a  day  were  cut 
down  to  $1.93  ;  and  this  man  did  a  very  unusual  thing,  he  cut 
the  foremen's  wages  from  $100  a  month  to  $75.  There  was  a 
strike  last  summer  on  the  Hazleton  mountain,  because  an  allow- 
ance of  $2.64  paid  the  men  for  opening  chutes  was  taken  off. 


EMPLOYES   AND   WAGES.  117 

Under  another  company  $1.50  was  paid  for  standing  a  set 
of  timber;  this  is  reduced  to  50  cents.  In  a  shaft  75  cents  was 
paid  for  standing  props ;  now  it  is  50  cents,  and  double  timber 
is  reduced  from  $2.50  to  $1.90.  In  another  shaft  the  allow- 
ance for  standing  timber  was  reduced  from  $1.50  to  60  cents. 
Companies  were  wont  to  grant  allowances  for  water  coming  into 
the  chamber ;  to-day,  this  is  not  given  in  many  collieries.  Al- 
lowance was  given  for  sulphur  streaks  which  appear  in  the  coal, 
making  it  much  harder  to  blast  it  and  increasing  the  wear  and 
tear  of  the  tools  ;  it  is  not  given  to-day.  An  allowance  of  50 
cents  a  yard  was  given  to  miners  who  had  to  use  safety  lamps ; 
to-day,  such  a  thing  is  not  known. 

This  lopping  off  of  incidental  payments  in  order  to  keep 
down  the  cost  of  production,  cuts  into  the  wages  of  the  men. 
Various  reasons  are  advanced  by  the  officials  for  these  changes. 
Some  of  them  are  plausible,  others  are  puerile  and  false.  But 
whatever  the  reason  may  have  been,  the  fact  that  this  way  of 
keeping  down  increased  cost  of  production  was  eating  into  the 
wages  of  labor,  stands  forth  as  a  stern  reality.  It  aggravated 
the  men  and  prepared  the  anthracite  coal  fields  for  the  seed  sown 
by  the  representatives  of  the  United  Mine  Workers,  and  to- 
day one  of  the  strongest  and  most  compact  labor  organizations 
in  the  United  States  flourishes  here.  The  wage  grievance  is 
one  of  the  prime  causes  of  the  present  discontent;  this  pre- 
cipitated the  conflict  of  last  fall,  and  the  settlement  then  effected 
was  only  a  temporary  patchwork ;  the  root  of  the  matter  was 
not  touched.  The  power  which  held  together  the  represen- 
tatives of  16  nationalities  in  the  recent  conflict  was  economic. 
It  was  wages,  the  hope  of  life  of  the  people. 

FACTORS   AFFECTING   THE   NOMINAL   WAGE. 

There  are  three  factors  which  directly  affect  the  nominal  wage 
of  miners.  They  are  powder,  dockage  and  intermittent  labor. 

Coal  cannot  be  mined  without  the  use  of  powder,  but  the 
quantity  used  in  the  different  veins  varies  greatly.  As  the 
lower  veins  are  developed  more  powder  is  consumed,  for  they 
are  smaller  and  harder,  and  rock  must  be  blasted  to  get  the 


118 


THE    ANTHRACITE   COAL   INDUSTRY. 


necessary  height  for  the  car.  The  following  table  shows  the 
difference  which  has  come  to  pass  in  the  amount  of  tons  cut  to 
the  keg  of  powder  in  the  last  twenty-five  years. 

VARIATION    IN   THE   AMOUNT    OF    POWDER   USED. 


Locality. 

Year. 

Average  Tons  per 
Keg  of  Powder 
of251bs. 

Tipper  Lehiffh 

1871 

102  29 

« 

78  90 

a          « 

(i 

57  31 

Carbon  Co  

1875 

6275 

Hazelton  .  . 

1878 

50  06 

n 

« 

47  34 

1C 

« 

69  85 

Schuylkill  

u 

52  00 

Luzerne  

1876 

47  17 

« 

1882 

58  3 

Lackawanna 

1889 

31  5 

« 

1895 

30.5 

This  shows  the  increase  in  the  use  of  powder,  and  the  more 
of  it  the  miner  uses,  the  less  he  gets  in  wages  per  ton  of  coal 
produced.  In  the  Woodward  shaft,  where  there  was  good 
mining,  a  miner  blasted  75  tons  of  coal  with  one  keg  of  pow- 
der, which,  at  the  present  price  of  powder,  would  mean  only 
two  cents  a  ton  of  powder  expense.  Another  miner,  an  equally 
good  workman  but  mining  in  one  of  the  thin  veins,  could  only  cut 
nine  tons,  which  was  an  outlay  for  powder  of  16f  cents  per  ton. 

The  Anglo-Saxons  will  not  work  the  small  veins  if  they  can 
possibly  avoid  it.  Into  these  the  Sclavs  enter.  They  are 
hardy  and  strong,  and  ambitious  to  become  miners.  They 
will  work  from  eight  to  twelve  hours  a  day  and  make  good 
wages  in  these  thin  veins,  whereas  the  English-speaking 
miners  are  in  the  habit  of  spending  on  an  average  from  five  to 
six  hours  in  the  mines. 

Those  who  work  these  small  veins,  though  they  get  nomi- 
nally the  same  price  for  the  car  of  coal  as  those  who  work  the 
richer  veins,  will  get  less  real  wages,  because  of  the  amount 
of  powder  consumed.  The  yardage  given  for  blasting  rock  is 
calculated  to  compensate  them,  but  wages  in  the  lower  veins 
estimated  in  physical  exertion  are  less  than  in  the  upper  ones. 

The  system  of  dockage  is  not  practised  throughout  the  coal 


CHART  REPRESENTING  DOCKAGE. 

=    2  %  Dockage. 

=    5  %  Dockage. 

=  13  %  Dockage. 


NOTE  : — Twenty  per  cent.  Dockage  is  represented  by  the  above 
Colored  Section  of  the  Circle. 


EMPLOYES    AND   WAGES.  119 

fields.  In  the  Southern  and  Middle,  most  of  the  men  mine 
coal  in  pitching  veins,  where  they  are  paid  by  the  yard,  and  the 
coal  is  loaded  by  company  hands  after  the  miner  has  driven  the 
chamber  to  its  usual  length.  Here  then  there  is  no  docking. 
Even  miners  who  cut  coal  by  the  car  under  the  Reading  Coal 
and  Iron  Co.,  as  well  as  under  some  other  companies,  are  not 
docked.  This  does  not  prove,  however,  that  these  companies 
pay  more  for  cutting  coal  than  the  others  who  practise  the  system 
of  dockage.  In  all  the  Northern  and  in  parts  of  the  Middle 
and  Southern  fields,  docking  is  practised,  because  of  impurities 
in  the  coal.  Dockage  then  is  a  certain  percentage  deducted 
from  the  amount  mined  by  the  miner  because  of  impurities. 

In  1887  a  law  was  passed  to  force  the  operators  to  accu- 
rately measure  the  amount  of  impurities  in  the  cars,  and  pay  the 
miner  for  the  exact  amount  of  clean  coal  sent  out.  To  comply 
with  this  law,  the  operators  introduced  a  system  which  has 
been  nicknamed  by  the  miners  "the  court  house."  A  small 
platform  was  erected  near  the  breaker,  on  which  one  or.  two 
cars  a  day  are  dumped,  and  two  old  miners  are  employed 
in  assorting  the  pure  from  the  impure  coal. 

The  result  of  this  examination  then  becomes  the  basis  of 
the  percentage  of  docking.  "The  court  house"  examines  the 
contents  of  representative  cars  from  the  various  veins,  and 
dockage  is  fixed  accordingly.  Hence  it  follows  that,  the 
dirtier  the  vein,  the  heavier  the  dockage,  and  this  is  the  reason 
why  it  has  increased  in  recent  years.  Miners  working  in  the 
same  colliery  are  not  docked  uniformly,  for  some  of  them 
work  in  dirtier  veins  than  others.  But  the  variation  in  the 
percentage  of  dockage  under  the  same  company  is  not  as  great 
as  that  between  different  companies.  The  heavier  dockage  is 
practised  by  individual  operators.  They  explain  this  by 
stating  that  they  work  smaller  and  dirtier  veins  than  the  ! 
larger  companies ;  the  miners  explain  it  differently  and  call  it 
"  robbery."  Under  the  Delaware,  Lackawanna  and  Western, 
dockage  amounts  to  between  2  and  3  per  cent. ;  under  four 
individual  companies  the  average  was  5,  8,  10  and  15  per 
cent,  respectively ;  under  the  Delaware  and  Hudson,  it  is  be- 
tween 4  and  5  per  cent. 


120 


THE   ANTHRACITE   COAL   INDUSTRY. 


The  grossest  case  known  to  us  was  one  in  which  a  man  was 
docked  on  an  average  20  per  cent,  for  three  successive  months. 
Representatives  of  the  United  Mine  Workers  say  some  miners 
are  docked  25  per  cent.,  but  we  never  met  with  such  an 
instance. 

Besides  the  system  of  dockage,  the  companies  who  pay  by 
the  ton,  such  as  the  Delaware  and  Hudson  and  the  Pennsyl- 
vania Coal  Co.,  take  from  2,800  to  3,000  pounds  for  the  ton. 
In  passing  coal  through  the  breaker,  waste  comes  in,  and  the 
500  or  700  pounds  extra  is  to  compensate  the  company  for  this 
waste. 

Hence  we  have  three  measurements  for  a  ton  in  these  coal 
fields.  When  a  miner  buys  a  ton  of  coal  he  gets  2,000  pounds  ; 
when  the  operator  pays  him  for  a  ton  of  mined  coal,  it  is  2,860 
pounds ;  when  the  railroad  buys  the  product  of  an  independ- 
ent colliery  the  ton  is  2,240  pounds. 

The  number  of  days  worked  aifects  the  wages  greatly.  This 
varies  with  the  weather.  A  severe  winter  increases  the  de- 
mand and  miners  work  more  days.  The  Bureau  of  Industrial 
Statistics  in  1885  gave  the  following  estimate  of  the  difference 
between  the  nominal  and  real  wage  of  anthracite  employes, 
due  to  intermittent  labor.  In  the  following  table  the  nom- 
inal wage  means  the  sum  employes  would  have  earned  if  they 
had  worked  sixty  hours  a  week,  while  the  real  wage  is  the  sum 
they  received  from  the  companies  according  to  the  time  they 
were  employed  during  the  week  : 

DIFFERENCE   IN    NOMINAL   AND   REAL   WAGE. 


Class  of  work. 

Theoretic 
or  Nominal 
Wage 
per  Week. 

Actual  or 
Real  Wage 
per  Week. 

Percentage 
of  Nom- 
inal Wage. 

Miners  on  contract             .                             . 

$16  28 

$8.84 

54.30% 

Miners  on  wages         

12.00 

7.00 

58.33 

Laborers  inside  

10.68 

6.14 

57.49 

8.40 

4.91 

58.45 

3.90 

2.07 

53.07 

Drivers  and  runners 

8  58 

5.32 

62.00 

Firemen            

9.48 

5.73 

60.44 

Engineers   

11.28 

8.84 

78.36 

Blacksmiths  

11.46 

7.16 

62.48 

9.30 

5.60 

60.21 

Slate-pickers  (boys)                          .. 

3  00 

1.70 

56.66 

00 
O  co 

§Q 


ON 

00 


<JV 

rvi 
ON 


03 
00 


K 
50 


«O 
00 

2 
.8 

Ovl 

PO 

00 

O 
PO 

O 


s 


V 


o 

O 


EMPLOYES    AND    WAGES. 


121 


The  following  table,  compiled  from  the  inspectors'  reports 
for  the  last  twenty-five  years,  gives  the  number  of  days  worked 
by  the  miners.  The  first  column  gives  the  average  number  of 
days  worked  by  the  breakers  in  the  whole  of  the  anthracite 
coal  fields ;  the  other  four  columns  give  the  number  of  days 
worked,  during  the  years  specified,  in  four  shafts  located  in 
Lackawanua  county. 

NUMBER  OF  DAYS  WORKED  IN  THE  YEAR. 


Year. 

General. 

Special  Collieries. 

Days  Worked. 

Days  Worked. 

Days  Worked. 

Days  Worked. 

Days  Worked. 

1875 

132< 

1876 

155 

140 

134 

1877 

161 

82- 

140 

1878 

134 

75 

143 

1879 

209 

208 

211 

1880 

172 

186 

189 

1881 

218* 

Idle 

231 

232 

1882 

217 

Idle 

236 

238 

1883 

214  ~ 

213 

246 

245 

242 

1884 

190 

206 

206 

204 

196 

1885 

200 

208 

210 

Idle 

166 

1886 

194 

198 

186 

Idle 

201 

1887 

210 

247 

82 

21B 

229 

1888 

221 

250 

252 

250 

252 

1889 

195 

132 

235 

122 

219 

1890 

191 

127 

210 

42 

205 

1891 

183 

88 

222 

226 

300 

1892 

205 

222 

224 

222 

277 

1893 

207 

220 

222 

215 

275 

1894 

179 

181 

188 

168 

230 

1895 

182 

211 

228 

218 

245 

1896 

171 

199 

220 

205 

232 

1897 

149 

200 

204 

127 

177 

1898 

148 

175 

186 

92 

169 

1899 

180 

203.75 

194.50 

201.75 

201.8 

If  we  take  300  days  as  comprising  a  year's  work,  we  get 
the  following  results  from  the  above  table.  In  25  years  the 
number  of  days  lost  in  the  general  column  was  2,873,  an  aver- 
age loss  of  110.92  days  a  year  or  36.97  per  cent,  of  the  total 
working  days  in  the  year.  In  the  special  shafts,  the  lost  time 
per  year  was  on  an  average  128.77  days  or  42.92  per  cent.; 
100.02  days  or  33.34  per  cent;  110.23  days  or  36.74  per 
cent.;  and  75.53  days  or  25.17  per  cent.,  respectively.  This 
means,  when  converted  into  nominal  and  real  wages,  that  miners 
who  could  have  earned,  at  $2.50  a  day,  $750  a  year,  only 


/ 


122  THE   ANTHRACITE    COAL    INDUSTRY. 

really  got  an  average  of  $484.50 ;  a  laborer,  who  at  $1.45  a 
day,  could  have  earned  at  full  time  $435,  only  earned  on  an 
average  $285.65.  This  explains  why  the  miners  affirm  that 
their  earnings  in  the  year  do  not  exceed  $33.00  or  $37.00  per 
month,  while  inside  and  outside  common  laborers  do  not  aver- 
age $25.00  per  month. 

SUGGESTIONS. 

IFrom  a  study  of  the  wages  of  miners  in  the  anthracite  coal 
fields,  one  is  impressed  with  the  great  inequalities  which  defy 
any  attempt  at  distributive  justice.  It  is  often  the  case  that 
those  who  work  the  hardest  get  the  least  pay.  In  some  places, 
men  actually  do  not  work  more  than  two  or  three  hours  a  day, 
and  draw  $55.00  or  $60.00  in  wages  for  21  or  22  days;  others 
work  from  eight  to  ten  hours  a  day  and  only  draw  $35.00  or 
$40.00  for  21  or  22  days.  The  latter  work  three  times  as 
hard  and  get  one-third  less  pay.  Ideal  justice  would  apportion 
wages  according  to  the  time  spent  and  strength  consumed  in 
flabor,  but  in  these  cases  the  relation  is  reversed. 

The  root  of  the  evil  lies  in  a  natural  fact,  namely,  the  for- 
mation of  the  coal  seams  in  the  geological  era,  and  man  cannot 
change  it.  In  the  last  strike,  there  was  a  certain  percentage 
of  the  miners  favorable  to  the  operators  and  ready  to  go  back  to 
work.  They  were  the  men  who  had  the  best  places.  As  one 
expressed  it,  "  The  $75.00  a  month  men  are  willing  to  go  to 
work ;  the  $30.00  men  are  out  to  stay."  All  attempts  to 
equalize  this  disparity  must  fail.  Some  argue  that  wages 
should  be  according  to  exertion  measured  in  time  units ;  that 
would  be  right,  but  it  is  impracticable.  The  question  must  be 
left  to  time.  A  gradual  leveling  down  will  take  place.  This 
will  occur  through  the  exhaustion  of  the  better  veins,  and  the 
necessity  of  extracting  coal  from  the  smaller  ones.  In  the 
near  future  thin  seams  will  be  the  only  ones  operated,  and 
greater  equality  will  prevail  as  to  physical  exertion  spent  in 
mining,  and  the  amount  of  wages  received  by  employes.  But, 
if  in  the  anthracite  mining  industry,  the  English-speaking 
miners  expect  to  hold  their  own  against  the  Sclav7,  they  must 
spend  more  time  in  the  mines.  This  would  refer  particu- 


EMPLOYES    AND    WAGES.  123 

larly  to  the  Northern  coal  field.  In  the  Southern  and  Mid- 
dle, about  65  per  cent,  of  the  miners  are  paid  by  the  yard, 
and  they  spend  about  eight  hours  a  day  in  the  mines ;  but 
the  average  English-speaking  miner  in  the  Northern  field  is 
in  a  hurry  to  get  out  and  hardly  spends  five  hours  a  day  in 
the  mines ;  while  Sclavs  are  known  to  spend  from  nine  to 
ten  hours  at  their  work.  The  Inspector  of  the  First  District 
says  in  his  last  report :  "  It  is  strange  but  it  is  a  fact  neverthe- 
less, that  where  the  <  vein '  is  <  good '  and  ( blows '  well,  it  is 
seldom  that  a  miner,  excepting  when  he  has  '  bad  luck/  is 
found  in  his  working  place  after  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning, 
for  very  likely  his  'home  shot'  has  been  fired  long  before 
this,  and  he  is  at  home  or  somewhere  else  with  his  friends." 

There  is  another  natural  fact  which  affects  the  wages  of  labor, 
namely,  the  weather.  A  hard  winter  increases  production,  a 
mild  one  diminishes  it ;  no  human  power  can  change  this,  and 
the  fluctuation  in  wages  due  to  this  cause  cannot  be  avoided. 

The  above  two  causes  due  to  natural  forces  will  ever  affect 
the  wages  of  labor  in  the  coal  fields  and  are  beyond  human 
control ;  but  there  are  other  causes  of  variation  which  are  due 
to  human  agencies  and  cause  discontent  among  the  employes ; 
these  can  be  remedied.  There  is  no  reason  for  different  prices 
for  the  same  work  in  the  same  and  in  different  collieries. 
Timbering,  rock-work,  opening  chambers,  chutes  and  cross-cuts 
require  a  fairly  uniform  amount  of  labor  throughout  the  coal 
fields,  but  the  prices  paid  for  these  vary  considerably.  If 
uniform  rates  were  established,  the  friction  which  now  prevails  r 
in  almost  every  section  would  be  largely  removed.  Many 
miners  think,  also,  that  regular  prices  can  be  fixed  for  mining 
coal,  based  on  the  thickness  of  the  seam ;  others  say  this  is 
impracticable.  Be  that  as  it  may,  one  thing  is  possible,  namely, 
that  the  foreman  should  have  no  respect  of  person  when  pay- 
ing prices  for  the  same  kind  of  work.  When  two  or  three 
rates  are  paid  for  the  same  work  and  by  the  same  foreman, 
there  is  only  one  cause  for  it — favoritism,  and  there  is  only 
one  result — strife.  We  are  convinced  that  after  all  is  done  to 
adjust  prices  on  the  most  equitable  basis  possible,  a  certain 


124  THE    ANTHRACITE   COAL    INDUSTRY. 

element  must  be  left  to  be  adjusted  between  the  miner  and  the 
foreman.  If  justice  prevails  between  man  and  man,  peace 
will  result ;  if  the  foreman  tries  to  outwit  the  ignorant  miner, 
he  is  generally  found  out,  and  loss  of  confidence  follows  which 
breeds  discontent  and  strife.  There  are  foremen  who  have 
mercilessly  ground  the  faces  of  their  men  and  brought  upon 
themselves  such  wrath  as  burst  forth  in  frightful  judgment. 

There  are  two  ways  to  cut  down  the  cost  of  production  :  one 
by  reducing  wages ;  another  by  improvement  in  the  art  of 
mining  and  handling  coal.  The  latter  abridges  labor  and  can 
generally  be  peaceably  introduced,  the  former  irritates  laborers 
and  precipitates  labor  conflicts.  Men  who  have  not  skill 
enough  to  devise  the  one  have  resort  to  the  other  and  friction 
follows. 

An  amicable  adjustment  of  wages  is  the  great  desideratum 
to-day  in  the  anthracite  coal  industry.  It  can  be  best  and 
most  easily  done  by  collective  bargaining  between  the  operators 
and  the  employes.  There  is  at  present  greater  compactness  of 
organization  among  the  cooperating  forces  than  ever  before ; 
capital  is  concentrated  in  a  few  hands ;  labor  is  also  controlled 
by  a  few  men. 

The  question  of  wages  needs  readjustment,  and  if  the  forces 
having  antagonistic  interests  were  to  come  together,  an  amicable 
settlement  would  be  effected.  This  would  involve  the  ac- 
knowledgment of  the  labor  organization  by  the  operators.  The 
chief  reason  for  not  acknowledging  it  is  prejudice  and  pride. 
Better  councils  will  undoubtedly  prevail  among  men  of  broad 
and  intelligent  views,  for  the  United  Mine  Workers  is  a  fact 
they  have  to  account  with  in  adjusting  wages,  however  they 
may  look  upon  the  matter,  and  it  would  seem  better  to  ac- 
knowledge the  fact  at  once  and  meet  it  manfully.* 

Another  evil  which  can  be  largely  eliminated  is  surplus  labor. 
From  the  time  when  a  profitable  market  was  opened  for  anthra- 

*  The  impression  prevails  among  employes  that  the  operators  have  condi- 
tionally promised  to  meet  the  representatives  of  the  U.  M.  W.  in  convention 
before  the  first  of  January,  1902,  to  discuss  wages,  etc.  This  would  be  a 
recognition  of  the  union,  which  is  the  chief  desire  of  the  miners  at  present. 


EMPLOYES    AND    WAGES. 


125 


cite  coal  down  to  the  present  day  this  evil  has  characterized  the 
industry.  If  all  the  employes  engaged  in  mining  coal  had 
worked  fall  time  in  the  year  1899,  they  would  have  produced 
over  90,000, 000  tons  of  coal.  They  only  worked,  however,  1 80 
days  and  54,034,224  tons  were  produced,  which  shows  that 
fully  one-fourth  too  many  men  are  engaged  in  the  industry. 
If  we  allow  for  natural  causes  which  introduce  periodicity  into 
the  business  according  to  the  changing  seasons  of  the  year,  it  is 
safe  to  say  that  30,000  employes  now  in  the  anthracite  industry 
could  be  transferred  to  some  other  occupation,  while  the  110,000 
remaining  could  produce  the  amount  of  coal  needed  to  meet  the 
market  demand  at  remunerative  prices. 

This  estimate  is  justified  by  a  study  of  the  time  worked  in 
representative  collieries  in  the  anthracite  coal  fields  for  the  year 
1899,  which  may  be  taken  as  one  of  average  prosperity  in  the 
history  of  the  industry.  The  following  table  compiled  from 
the  monthly  returns  of  time  worked  per  month  in  138  breakers 
in  the  several  districts  throughout  the  coal  fields,  gives  a  fair 
idea  of  the  number  of  days  the  employes  were  engaged  in  the 
respective  months. 

TABLE    SHOWING   NUMBER   OF    DAYS   WORKED    PER   MONTH 

IN    1899. 


Jan. 

Feb. 

Mar. 

Apr. 

May. 

June, 

July. 

Aug. 

Sept. 

Oct. 

Nov. 

Dec. 

14.25 

14.34 

12.75 

12.75 

13.52 

13.53 

14.28 

16.05 

17.20 

19.78 

20.44 

19.89 

13.86 

15.03 

9.40 

13.44 

14.90 

18.50 

18.90 

15.40 

18.00 

20.90 

22.50 

15.70 

13.25 

12.85 

13.05 

12.55 

12.90 

16.85 

16.00 

16.30 

14.35 

19.20 

17.70 

16.10 

12.69 

9.85 

12.78 

10.91 

11.95 

13.77 

14.42 

13.95 

14.85 

16.12 

16.12 

16.12 

16.80 

13.89 

13.39 

12.42 

16.28 

17.35 

18.56 

14.55 

16.83 

20.21 

19.31 

17.56 

18.00 

12.20 

19.40 

18.60 

21.20 

20.20 

19.20 

24.00 

21.60 

23.00 

22.00 

21.40 

19.78 

13.68 

20.72 

17.12 

17.91 

18.14 

19.05 

22.73 

19.49 

20.85 

22.42 

21.98 

18.63 

16.95 

24.20 

23.45 

26.10 

25.25 

19.95 

18.03 

19.60 

19.70 

23.63 

23.25 

17.50 

10.15 

13.20 

9.50 

9.60 

13.00 

14.20 

15.40 

18.35 

21.55 

18.60 

16.50 

16.15 

10.00 

12.35 

9.45 

11.40 

14.45 

15.15 

16.10 

17.00 

19.50 

15.60 

15.90 

19.05 

11.97 

12.84 

9.51 

10.96 

12.86 

15.64 

18.20 

19.00 

21.25: 

17.33 

17.43 

16.36 

12.81 

14.91 

13.61 

15.06 

16.71 

16.94 

17.33 

17.93 

20.27 

19.60 

18.34 

From  the  averages  in  the  last  horizontal  line  we  see  that 
February  is  the  month  in  which  the  least  number  of  days 
were  worked,  while  October  leads  the  list.  The  variation  in 
the  two  extremes  is  7.46  days.  Or  expressed  in  another  form, 
the  employes  worked  36.75  per  cent,  more  time  in  October 


126  THE    ANTHRACITE    COAL    INDUSTRY. 

than  in  February  to  produce  the  amount  of  coal  needed  to  meet 
the  maximum  monthly  demand.  But  even  in  October  the 
men  could  have  worked  26  days,  or  28.26  per  cent,  more  time 
than  they  did,  that  is,  22.04  per  cent,  fewer  men  working  full 
time  could  have  produced  the  same  amount  of  coal  in  October, 
1899,  the  month  in  which  the  maximum  tonnage  was  produced 
at  the  various  collieries. 

It  is  also  reasonable  to  suppose  that  better  administration 
could  reduce  the  above  variation  between  the  maximum  and 
the  minimum  number  of  days  in  the  month  the  miners  were  em- 
ployed during  the  year.  The  variation  is  partly  due  to  the 
necessity  of  shutting  down  collieries  for  repairs,  but  far-sighted 
administration  can  so  guard  against  this  cause  of  intermittent 
labor  that  it  would  produce  very  little  effect  upon  the  employes. 
There  is  no  insurmountable  difficulty  in  the  mining  industry 
which  would  make  it  impossible  to  regulate  the  rate  of  pro- 
duction in  periods  of  three  months,  so  that  during  that  time  the 
monthly  tonnage  would  be  nearly  equal.  If  we  take  the 
figures  given  above  in  the  last  horizontal  line  and  estimate  the 
average  for  each  month  in  the  quarter,  we  have  : 

From  January  to  March 14.69  days. 

"     April        "  June 14.79     " 

"     July         "  September 17.40     " 

"     October   "  December 19.40     " 

Here  the  variation  between  the  maximum  and  the  minimum 
number  of  days  is  only  4.71.  In  this  view  of  the  question, 
the  men  could  have  worked  on  an  average  5.60  days  per  month 
more  during  the  busiest  quarter  in  the  year,  or  28.86  per  cent, 
more  time ;  that  is,  22.4  per  cent,  fewer  men  working  full 
time  during  the  season  when  the  market  demand  is  at  its 
highest  could  have  produced  the  same  amount  of  coal  that  the 
140,000  employes  did  working  an  average  of  19.40  days  a 
month.  Hence,  with  no  detrimental  effect  on  the  industry,  20 
per  cent,  of  the  employes  (28,000)  could  be  dispensed  with 
when  the  market  demand  is  at  its  maximum  and  during  the 
seasons  of  minimum  production  the  remaining  112,000  labor- 
ers would  not  be  employed  at  full  time. 


EMPLOYES   AND   WAGES. 


127 


It  is  alleged  —  and  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  it  is  true  — 
that  the  surplus  labor  in  the  anthracite  coal  fields  is  largely 
due  to  a  policy  designedly  pursued  by  the  operators,  whereby 
they  might  expect  to  keep  laborers  in  due  subjection.  They 
acted  on  the  idea  that  employes  could  be  better  controlled, 
their  tendency  to  combination  more  effectually  frustrated,  and 
industrial  friction  more  successfully  stayed,  if  they  were  kept 
near  the  starvation  point.  Irregular  wages  and  a  miserable 
existence  were  their  devices  to  quell  all  attempts  of  the  min- 
ing employes  to  insist  on  their  rights  as  men.  They  be- 
lieved the  workmen  could  not  stand  prosperity,  and  that  the 
peaceful  operation  of  the  industry  depended  on  having  a  sur- 
plus of  cheap  labor. 

Business  men  are  exceptionally  keen  in  their  insight  into  hu- 
man nature,  but  the  anthracite  coal  operators  grossly  miscalcu- 
lated the  effect  of  such  a  policy  upon  their  employes.  Privation 
and  want  in  the  ranks  of  workingmen  are  far  more  menacing  to 
industrial  peace  than  prosperity  and  plenty.  The  history  of 
labor  disputes  in  the  anthracite  coal  fields  shows  how  fallacious 
and  superficial  the  idea  is  that  laborers  can  be  cowed  to  submis- 
sion by  surplus  labor,  intermittent  work  and  starvation  wages. 
Such  a  short-sighted  policy  invariably  reacts  upon  the  operators 
themselves,  and  the  end  is  disruption,  industrial  conflict  and  dis- 
tress. Economic  peace  has  never  rested  securely  on  a  founda- 
tion of  privation  and  misery.  Starvation-discipline  by  surplus 
labor  will  never  make  men  submissive  and  meek.  When  min- 
ing employes  are  barely  able  to  get  the  necessaries  of  life,  dis- 
content and  dissatisfaction  are  engendered.  It  is  only  a  ques- 
tion of  time  when  these  evils  become  so  acute  as  to  lead  to 
protest  and  revolt.  When  men  are  hard  pressed  by  economic 
conditions  which  intensify  the  struggle  for  existence,  they  resort 
to  combination  in  order  to  overcome  the  antagonistic  force. 
Men  in  distressing  circumstances  will  cooperate  in  order  to 
make  the  conditions  of  life  easier.  Surplus  labor  has  been  the 
cause  of  distress  and  want  for  many  years  in  the  anthracite 
coal  fields,  and  the  result  is  a  formidable  combination  which  de- 
mands better  industrial  and  economic  conditions  for  laborers. 


<  - 

f 


128  THE    ANTHRACITE   COAL   INDUSTRY. 

The  tenet  that  miners  cannot  stand  prosperity  is  utterly 
false.  Human  nature  is  the  same  in  miners  as  in  all  other 
classes  of  laborers.  Give  them  regular  work  and  a  fair  wage, 
and  the  vast  majority  are  intelligent  enough  to  fully  appreciate 
the  favors.  They  will  show  their  appreciation  in  steady  co- 
operation with  capitalists.  In  all  industries  a  certain  per- 
centage of  turbulent  and  ungrateful  fellows  are  found,  who 
ever  have  their  list  of  grievances  no  matter  how  they  are 
treated.  That  is  true  of  mining  employes,  but  the  vast  ma- 
jority will  respond  to  kindness  and  sympathy  and  feel  thankful 
for  regular  work  and  good  pay. 

The  Anthracite  Syndicate  can  benefit  the  miners  in  this  re- 
spect. It  can  do  away  with  this  surplus  labor  and  bring  about 
economic  conditions  which  will  insure  contentment  in  hundreds 
of  homes  among  the  army  of  anthracite  miners.  These  thou- 
sands of  mine  workers  ask  for  one  thing  above  all  else,  namely, 
an  opportunity  to  earn  an  honest  living  for  themselves  and 
families.  We  have  seen  scores  of  strong  men  and  patient 
women  silently  suffering  under  intermittent  labor,  and  longing 
for  work.  They  ask  not  for  favors ;  they  are  too  brave  to  com- 
plain ;  their  manly  independence  raises  them  above  charitable 
considerations  ;  all  they  asked  for  is  :  "  Give  us  work  "  •  "  Give 
us  a  chance  to  earn  our  bread  ; "  and  it  is  a  great  pity  that  they 
are  deprived  of  the  opportunity  they  seek.  The  Syndicate  can 
do  great  good  to  this  large  body  of  thrifty  workingmen  in  the 
coal  fields.  It  can  so  manage  the  industry  that  every  honest 
and  industrious  worker  among  them  can  get  regular  employ- 
ment and  be  protected  against  the  evils  of  surplus  labor,  which 
have  filled  so  many  hearts  with  bitterness  and  so  many  homes 
with  misery. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

INCIDENTAL   PROFITS   OF   OPEKATOKS. 

1.  HOUSES  EENTED.  2.  THE  AMOUNT  OF  POWDER  SOLD.  3.  THE  KIND 
AND  NUMBER  OF  COMPANY  STORES.  4.  VOLUME  OF  BUSINESS  AND 
PROFITS.  5.  THE  GOOD  AND  BAD  OF  COMPANY  STORES. 


All  the  operators  in  the  anthracite  coal  fields  sell  supplies  to 
their  employes.  No  miner  is  at  liberty  to  buy  powder  where  /wA 
he  chooses.  Most  of  the  mining  companies  also  have  houses  for 
rent,  and  a  great  many  company  stores  still  exist.*  Two  of 
these  items  entered  into  the  list  of  grievances  of  the  United 
Mine  Workers  last  fall.  They  wanted  the  price  of  powder  re-  \S 
duced.  They  also  demanded  the  abolition  of  the  company  store, 
because  of  exorbitant  prices  charged  for  commodities  and  com- 
pulsion to  deal  in  them.  Many  and  persistent  attempts  have 
been  made  to  do  away  with  this  evil,  all  of  which  thus  far  have 
come  short  of  their  object.  It  was  an  issue  in  the  Bates'  strike 
of  1849.  The  Workingmen's  Benevolent  Association  of  1868- 
75  attempted  to  remove  it.  It  was  one  of  the  planks  in  the 
platform  of  the  Knights  of  Labor  who  flourished  in  the  Middle 
and  Southern  coal  fields  in  1886-1888.  And  the  labor  organ- 
ization which  now  flourishes  in  the  anthracite  coal  fields  has 
undertaken  to  correct  this  evil.  What  the  employes  could 
not  do  by  labor  unions,  their  representatives  have  tried  to 
do  by  legislative  enactment.  In  June,  1881,  a  law  was 
passed  to  enforce  payment  in  lawful  money  of  the  United 
States  or  "any  order  or  other  paper  whatsoever,  redeem- 
able for  its  face  value  in  lawful  money  of  the  United 
States."  This  law  was  declared  unconstitutional,  in  being  an 

*  Some  claim  that  all  company  stores  have  disappeared  in  the  anthracite 
coal  fields.  Since  the  last  strike  many  of  them  have  been  abandoned,  but 
some  still  remain. 

9  129 


130  THE   ANTHRACITE   COAL    INDUSTRY. 

infringement  on  the  privileges  of  men  to  sell  their  labor  for 
what  they  think  best,  whether  money  or  goods.  In  June,  1891, 
another  act  was  passed,  making  it  unlawful  for  "  any  mining  or 
manufacturing  corporation  of  this  Commonwealth  or  the  officers 
or  stockholders  of  any  such  corporation — to  engage  in  or  carry 
on — any  store  known  as  company  store."  Another  attempt 
was  made  at  the  recommendation  of  an  investigating  committee 
in  1897  to  abolish  this  evil.*  All  these  legislative  acts  have 
come  short  of  their  object.  The  company  store  sJllLflourishes. 
^  Miners  have  taken  up  the  question  as  a  local  issue  in  some  of 
{he  shafts,  but  the  company  store  still  lives  there.  Their  num- 
ber is  not  as  large  as  it  once  was ;  they  are  gradually  dying 
out,  but  the  institution  dies  hard. 

This  chapter  treats  of  incidental  profits  derived  by  operators 
from  supplies  sold  to  their  employes.  We  take  the  several 
items  in  the  order  of  their  importance  in  relation  to  public 
opinion. 

HOUSES    RENTED. 

An  item  in  the  Potts ville  Miners'  Journal  for  January,  1850, 
states  that  there  were  4,200  houses  rented  by  the  opera- 
tors in  the  anthracite  coal  fields.  From  the  earliest  record  of 
mining,  operators  have  erected  abodes  for  their  employes,  and 
the  practise  has  been  continued  to  very  recent  times  among 
all  the  companies.  In  the  early  years  of  mining  it  was  a 
necessity.  Coal  was  then  mined  in  barren  places  where  men 
had  not  settled  and  shelter  could  not  be  procured.  The  em- 
ployes could  not  build  houses  for  themselves  and  families,  for 
they  had  no  capital  to  invest  in  land  or  building  material. 
Mining  companies  met  the  need  of  the  hour  by  building  houses 
in  which  the  employes  could  live. 

*  Another  bill  relative  to  the  company  stores  was  passed  last  June,  to  go 
into  effect  January  1,  1902.  It  provides  : 

1.  That  all  operators  who  pay  their  employes  in  "  orders,  checks,  dividers, 
coupons,  pass-books  or  other  paper  representing  wages  or  earnings  of  an  em- 
ploye not  paid  in  cash,"  shall  pay  into  the  treasury  of  the  Commonwealth  a 
tax  of  25  per  cent,  on  the  face  value  of  all  such  amounts. 

2.  Failure  to  comply  with  this  provision  will  result  in  an  additional  tax 
of  25  per  cent,  on  the  face  value  of  all  such  amounts. 

3.  Mining  supplies,  coal,  rent  and  assessments  imposed  by  the  Union 
which  may  be  collected  through  the  office,  are  exempted  from  this  law. 


INCIDENTAL   PROFITS    OF   OPERATORS.  131 

It  was  an  accommodation  to  the  miner  and  a  source  of 
profit  to  the  employer.  Many  of  the  companies  at  present  con- 
duct a  large  real  estate  business  by  selling  land  to  their  em- 
ployes, on  which  they  build  themselves  homes.  The  Eeading 
Company  will  not  sell  the  land,  but  it  has  a  system  of  leasing 
lots  for  building  purposes  at  a  rent  of  a  dollar  a  month. 
When  the  miner,  who  has  improved  the  land,  leaves  he  has 
the  privilege  of  selling  out  to  the  best  advantage.  Some  com- 
panies give  their  employes  the  privilege  of  building  themselves 
homes  on  their  land  without  any  specified  terms  as  to  land 
rent.  One  company  in  Schuylkill  county  grants  that  privilege 
to  miners  in  its  colliery,  but  if  any  family  takes  in  boarders, 
then  a  dollar  a  month  per  boarder  must  be  paid  to  the  com- 
pany as  rent.  This  is  a  wise  provision  against  the  evil  of 
over-crowding  a  small  house,  which  had  been  the  custom  among 
Sclavs  during  the  first  decade  of  their  advent  into  the  coal  fields. 
An  individual  operator  in  Lackawanna  county  guards  against 
this  by  prohibiting  more  than  two  boarders  in  the  same  house 
with  the  family.  When  the  President  of  the  Delaware,  Lacka- 
wanna and  Western  was  changed  three  years  ago  the  company 
sold  all  the  houses  it  rented.  The  Delaware  and  Hudson  also 
has  disposed  of  many  but  not  all  of  its  houses.  The  other 
companies  rent  houses  to  their  employes.  In  some  mining 
camps  all  the  land  and  houses  are  owned  by  the  company.  On 
the  Hazleton  mountain,  mining  operators  have  sold  land  with 
the  proviso  that  no  saloon  or  any  place  for  the  sale  of  intoxicants 
should  be  erected  upon  it,  and  it  has  been  an  effective  pro- 
hibitory measure.  Many  years  ago  instances  were  known  of 
operators  going  to  the  other  extreme.  They  erected  saloons, 
and  the  vendor  of  intoxicants  therein  divided  the  profits  with 
them.  We  have  not  seen  an  instance  of  that  in  our  investiga- 
tion. We  only  met  one  case  of  a  foreman  in  charge  of  a  strip- 
ping, who  was  the  proprietor  of  a  saloon.  Regulations  restrict- 
ing the  use  of  intoxicants  in  and  around  the  mines  were  not  as 
strict  years  ago  as  they  are  to-day.  There  is  ten  times  more 
capital  invested  in  the  colliery  now  than  was  the  case  then,  and 
many  costly  experiences  have  taught  operators  that  drink  and 
safety  are  not  compatible. 


132  THE   ANTHRACITE   COAL   INDUSTRY. 

As  the  population  of  the  coal  fields  has  increased,  many 
towns  have  sprung  up  where  formerly  only  company  houses 
existed.  Hence  we  find  in  many  communities  company  houses 
and  those  possessed  by  private  individuals  side  by  side.  No 
compulsion,  as  far  as  we  have  learned,  is  exercised  on  the  em- 
ployes  to  live  in  company  houses.  They  are  generally  rented 
at  lower  rates  than  private  ones,  and  so  are  eagerly  sought 
for  by  the  men.  They  are  not  as  well  built,  as  a  rule,  as 
houses  erected  by  private  individuals,  but  the  low  rent  is  an  ad- 
vantage the  miners  appreciate  more  than  convenience.  Most 
companies  provide  homes  for  their  foremen,  but  this  custom,  in 
mines  proximate  to  towns  and  cities,  has  been  discontinued. 
One  company  takes  monthly  rent  from  its  foremen  for  the 
houses  put  at  their  disposal,  and  at  the  end  of  the  year  refunds 
to  the  tenants  the  total  sum  of  the  rent  it  has  collected. 

The  character  of  company  houses  differs  very  much  ;  some  of 
them  are  commodious  and  comfortable,  others  are  rude  shanties, 
rickety,  dirty  and  small.  Hundreds  of  houses  can  be  seen  in 
the  Southern  coal  field  consisting  of  a  frame,  to  which  hem- 
lock boards  are  attached  in  a  perpendicular  manner,  and  strips 
nailed  over  the  crevices  to  keep  out  the  wind.  On  the  inside 
again  hemlock  boards  constitute  the  sides  of  the  building,  which, 
where  the  tenant  is  not  neat  and  clean,  show  the  accumulation  of 
dirt  and  filth  on  their  unpolished  surface,  and  in  the  crevices  a 
vigorous  struggle  for  existence  goes  on.  Company  houses  built 
in  recent  years  are  better  in  every  respect  than  the  older  ones. 
The  contrast  is  striking  at  the  Lytle's  colliery  ;  in  one  place  the 
old  dilapidated  houses  now  tenanted  by  the  Sclavs  may  be  seen  ; 
on  another  plot  are  seen  new  homes  recently  erected,  containing 
six  comfortable  rooms,  and  tenanted  by  English-speaking  miners. 

The  rule  adopted  by  many  companies  in  fixing  rent  is  to 
adjust  it  so  as  to  cover  insurance  and  water  tax  and  pay  about 
12  per  cent,  on  the  investment.  On  this  basis  the  employes  get 
houses  for  about  $1.00  a  room  per  month.  The  Lehigh  Valley 
charges  more  than  this,  but  it  sells  eight  tons  of  coal  in  the 
year  to  its  tenants  for  $1.00  a  ton.*  At  Natalie,  in  Schuyl- 

*  Last  fall  the  Lehigh  Valley  discontinued  this  custom  of  selling  coal  at 
reduced  rates  to  its  tenants  and  readjusted  its  rent  rates. 


INCIDENTAL    PKOFITS   OF   OPERATORS.  133 

kill  county,  four-roomed  houses  rent  for  $5  a  month  ;  six-roomed 
houses  for  $7.00.  At  Buck  Mountain  Colliery,  about  130  houses 
are  rented:  28  for  $8. 00  a  month;  30  for  $6.00,  and  72  for  $4.00. 
The  Lytle  Company  rents  120  houses  :  40  for  $3.00  a  month ; 
40  for  $4.00,  and  40  for  $6.00.  Nowhere  did  we  hear  com- 
plaints of  exorbitant  rents  charged  by  operators  for  their  houses. 
Mining  companies  also  sell  coal  to  their  employes  at  lower 
rates  than  they  charge  the  public,  and  keep  teams  to  haul  it  to 
their  homes.  Thirty  years  ago  operators  gave  their  employes 
coal  at  nominal  rates,  but  the  kindness  was  abused  by  some 
men.  What  they  got  from  the  company  at  a  nominal  rate  they 
sold  for  drink  or  groceries  at  market  prices.  So  to-day  the 
rates  charged  the  employes  are  only  from  7  to  10  per  cent, 
below  those  charged  the  public. 

THE    AMOUNT    OF     POWDER    SOLD. 

All  the  mining  companies  sell  powder  to  their  miners.  The 
men  are  compelled  to  buy  it  of  them  :  if  they  buy  it  elsewhere, 
they  must  go  elsewhere  to  burn  it.  Operators  advance  many 
reasons  for  this  rule  :  they  claim  that  they  are  able  thus  to  reg- 
ulate the  kind  of  powder  used,  so  that  it  will  contaminate  the 
air  as  little  as  possible  in  the  mines.  It  is  certainly  a  conven- 
ience to  the  men  to  have  the  powder  at  the  head  of  the  shaft. 
The  high  price  charged  for  powder  before  the  last  strike  was 
defended  on  the  ground  that  miners  would  use  it  more  econom- 
ically than  if  it  were  a  cheaper  commodity.  All  these  reasons 
are  superficial:  the  truth  of  the  matter  lies,  in  the  profits  made 
by  the  operators.  The  powder  question  was  one  of  the  vital 
issues  in  the  last  strike.  It  was  settled  as  far  as  prices  are 
concerned.  All  through  the  anthracite  fields,  a  keg  of  25  Ibs.  is 
now  sold  for  $1.50,  whereas  formerly  $2.75  was  charged  for  it 
by  most  of  the  mining  companies.  The  reduction  made  in  the 
price  of  powder  was  computed  in  the  advance  of  10  per  cent, 
given  the  miners,  so  that  the  actual  advance  in  wages  received 
by  those  who  formerly  paid  $2.75  for  powder  was  only  be- 
tween 3  and  4  per  cent.  The  discussion  of  this  question  in  the 
press  was  spirited  during  the  conflict ;  the  operators  claimed 


134  THE   ANTHRACITE   COAL   INDUSTRY. 

that  the  price  paid  for  powder  had  no  bearing  upon  the  rate  of 
wages,  for  in  fixing  them,  the  amount  paid  for  powder  entered  into 
the  computation.*  The  miners  claimed  they  had  a  real  grievance 
and  demanded  a  settlement  of  the  question.  The  truth  lies 
midway  between  the  assertions  of  the  contending  parties. 

If  in  the  seventies  one  keg  blasted  50  tons  of  coal,  which  in 
the  nineties  required  two  kegs,  the  powder  cost  in  these  periods 
would  be  as  1 :  2.  If  the  price  of  powder  was  fixed  in  adjust- 
ing wages  back  in  the  seventies,  surely  it  made  a  difference  in 
wages,  when  the  same  agreement  was  perpetuated  in  the  nine- 
ties. No  sophistry  can  hide  the  fact  that  the  increase  in  the 
amount  of  powder  used  in  mining  the  lower  seams  reduced  the 
miner's  wages  and  justified  his  appeal  for  a  reduction  in  its 
price.  On  the  other  hand,  the  powder  expense  did  come  into 
consideration  in  adjusting  wages.  It  was  in  the  agreement 
made  in  the  seventies.  Changed  conditions  in  the  last  decade 
made  that  agreement  a  source  of  injustice  to  the  men  of  to-day 
and  the  companies  on  grounds  of  equity  ought  to  have  changed 
the  price  of  powder  to  suit  the  changed  conditions.  This  most  of 
the  mining  companies  failed  to  do  and  so  left  in  the  hands  of  the 
agitator  a  weapon  which  he  never  failed  to  use  with  great  effect. 
The  question  has  been  settled,  however,  as  to  price  ;  the  miners 
may  yet  demand  the  right  to  buy  powder  where  they  choose, 
for  the  operators  still  insist  on  a  monopoly  in  the  sale  of  it. 

The  conflict  which  has  been  waged  over  this  question  has 
historical  interest,  inasmuch  as  it  illustrates  the  tenacious  grip 
of  self-interest.  For  the  last  20  years  miners  have  tried  to  get 
the.  price  of  powder  reduced.  The  Reading  Company  yielded 
to  the  demands  of  their  employes  in  the  year  1888  by  reducing 
the  price  to  $1.50  a  keg.  Several  individual  companies  which 
follow  the  lead  of  the  Reading  did  the  same.  In  the  Northern 
and  Middle  coal  fields  the  operators  in  1893  reduced  the  price 
from  $3.00  to  $2.75  a  keg. 

During  the  last  10  or  15  years,  as  miners  felt  the  powder 

*The  Delaware,  Lackawanna  and  Western  Coal  Company,  in  the  latter  six- 
ties, made  an  agreement  with  its  employes  "that  $3.00  per  keg  was  to  be  the 
established  price  of  powder,  irrespective  of  whatever  changes  that  may  occur 
in  the  price  of  the  car  of  coal." 


INCIDENTAL    PROFITS   OF    OPERATORS. 


135 


expense  increasing,  many  appeals  were  made  to  the  companies 
to  reduce  its  price,  but  all  efforts  were  in  vain  until  the  strike 
of  last  October. 

The  following  table  gives  the  amount  of  powder  consumed 
during  the  last  19  years. 

AMOUNT   OF    POWDER    CONSUMED. 


Year. 

Number  of  Kegs. 

1881 

551,164 

1882 

555,493 

1883 

564,057 

1884 

663,157 

1885 

889,177 

1886 

931,958 

1887 

1,023,529 

1888 

1,112,160 

6,290,695 

1889 

904,140 

1890 

1,030,000 

1891 

1,198,788 

1892 

1,242,140 

1893 

1,269,051 

5,644,119 

1894 

1,230,128 

1895 

1,310,671 

1896 

1,284,866 

1897 

1,272,198 

1898 

1,226,804 

1899 

1,372,691 

7,697,358 

Total. 

19,632,172 

Up  to  1888,  $3.00  a  keg  was  charged  throughout  the  coal 
fields  for  powder.  That  year,  the  Reading  and  some  individual 
companies  reduced  it  to  $1.50.  The  amount  sold  for  $1.50  a 
keg  by  these  companies  may  be  put  down  at  16  per  cent,  of 
the  total  consumption  of  powder.  In  1893,  the  other  com- 
panies reduced  the  price  to  $2.75. 

The  cost  to  the  companies  is  acknowledged  to  be  on  an  aver- 
age, one  dollar  a  keg.  Upon  this  calculation,  we  get  the  fol- 
lowing result : 

AMOUNT   OF    POWDER   SOLD    AND    ESTIMATED    PROFITS. 


Years. 

Total 
Amount 
Consumed. 

Amount  Sold 
by  Reading, 
etc.,  for  $1.50. 

Total  Sold  for 
$3.00  a  Keg. 

Total  Sold 
for 
$2.75  a  Keg. 

Estimated 
Profits. 

1881-1888 
1889-1893 
1893-1899 

6,290,695 
5,644,119 

7,697,358 

846,617.85 
1,154,603.70 

6,290,695.00 
4,797,501.15 

6,542,754.30 

$12,581,390.00 
10,018,311.22 
12,027,121.87 

Total. 

19,632,172 

2,001,221.55 

11,088,196.15 

6,542,754.30 

$34,626,823.09 

136  THE   ANTHRACITE   COAL    INDUSTRY. 

In  the  year  1881,  an  average  of  54.81  tons  of  coal  were 
produced  for  every  keg  of  powder  used.  In  1899,  the  aver- 
age was  39.36  tons  per  keg.  The  accompanying  chart  shows 
the  actual  amount  of  powder  used,  and  the  amount  of  powder 
that  would  have  been  used  in  producing  the  coal  mined,  if  the 
proportion  of  tons  mined  per  keg  of  powder  in  1881  had  con- 
tinued throughout  the  years.  The  increased  consumption  of 
powder  affected  employers  and  employes  very  differently :  to 
the  miner,  it  meant  more  expense ;  to  the  operator,  more  profits. 
Of  course,  the  operator  may  answer  that  the  item  of  dead- 
work  increased,  and  that  he  had  to  pay  more  in  1899  for  rock- 
work  than  in  1881 ;  that  is  true,  but  he  could  well  afford  to 
do  it,  from  the  increased  profits  derived  from  the  larger  quan- 
tity of  powder  sold.  From  the  study  of  this  question  one  can 
hardly  avoid  the  conviction  that  the  introduction  of  the  price 
of  powder  into  the  question  of  fixing  the  rate  of  wages  in  the 
seventies  was  a  shrewd  move,  which  illustrates  the  superiority 
of  brain  over  brawn  in  concluding  a  bargain.  Powder  in  this 
instance  played  the  same  part  exactly  as  appreciation  of  gold 
does  in  the  case  of  a  debtor  who  is  obliged  to  pay  his  debt  in 
the  appreciated  metal. 

THE    KIND   AND    NUMBER    OF   COMPANY    STORES. 

There  are  two  kinds  of  company  stores.  The  company 
store  proper  is  that  conducted  by  the  same  party  as  runs  the 
colliery.  This  was  the  kind  which  prevailed  in  the  early  years 
of  mining.  Another  kind,  however,  came  in  during  the  years 
of  consolidation.  When  an  individual  operator  sold  out  to  a 
large  corporation,  he  reserved  the  privilege  of  continuing  the 
company  store,  with  the  understanding  that  the  operators  would 
deduct  each  month  from  the  wages  of  the  men  the  amount  due 
him  for  goods  sold  the  employes  during  the  month.  The  store 
proprietor  paid  from  3  to  5  per  cent,  to  the  company  for  col- 
lecting. This  latter  kind  of  store  is  more  odious  to  the  em- 
ployes than  the  former,  and  is  technically  called  "pluck-me 
store. "  The  manager  works  through  the  foreman,  whom  he 
sometimes  takes  in  as  a  stockholder,  or  perchance  he  enlists  his 


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INCIDENTAL   PROFITS    OF    OPERATORS.  137 

cooperation  by  presents  or  special  favors,  so  that  he  may  bring 
his  power  to  bear  upon  the  men  under  his  charge.  There  are 
other  kinds  of  stores  which  affect  the  men  in  the  very  same 
manner  as  a  truck  store.  Some  foremen  in  years  past  thought 
they  could  make  an  honest  penny  by  running  a  store.  Many 
of  them  holding  positions  under  the  large  companies  opened 
stores  and  did  a  thriving  business  as  long  as  they  held  the  po- 
sition of  foremen.  In  other  instances  a  son  or  a  son-in-law, 
or  a  brother-in-law  went  into  business,  and  invariably  the 
patronage  came  from  the  men  working  under  the  relative  in  the 
mines.  The  foremen  showed  favor  to  men  who  patronized  their 
store,  and  the  men  curried  favor  by  dealing  there.  This  latter 
kind  of  store  as  well  as  the  former  were  removed  either  by  the 
employes  complaining  to  the  head  management  of  discrimination, 
or  by  a  detective  of  the  company  ferretting  out  the  evils  inci- 
dent to  it.  Then  the  foreman,  directly  or  indirectly  interested, 
was  removed  to  a  shaft  so  far  from  the  store  that  he  would  not 
be  influenced  in  the  discharge  of  his  duties. 

The  number  of  company  stores  is  gradually  diminishing. 
This  is  due  chiefly  to  the  action  of  corporations  buying  out  in- 
dividual operators  and  discontinuing  the  stores.  That  was  the 
case  with  the  Temple  Iron  and  Coal  Company,  which  last  Oc- 
tober closed  five  company  stores  in  the  Northern  coal  field. 
The  Delaware  and  Hudson  last  February  purchased  four  col- 
lieries of  individual  operators,  to  which  company  stores  were 
attached  ;  these  are  discontinued.  In  the  Southern  and  Middle 
coal  fields  some  of  the  large  companies  have  tolerated  the  com- 
pany store  after  they  had  control  of  the  colliery,  but  the  friction 
caused  by  the  truck  system  among  their  employes  has  moved 
some  of  them  to  do  away  with  it. 

That  has  been  the  case  with  some  of  the  largest  company 
stores  in  the  Pottsville  district.  The  operators  served  notice 
on  the  managers  of  the  stores  they  would  not  collect  their 
bills  through  the  office  after  a  certain  date  specified  by  them. 
This  is  not  the  invariable  rule,  however.  The  New  York, 
Ontario  and  Western  purchased  the  interests  of  the  Scranton 
Coal  Company  last  fall,  but  the  company  stores  are  continued ; 


138 


THE   ANTHRACITE   COAL   INDUSTRY. 


the  policy  of  this  corporation  seems  to  be  to  run  the  stores  on 
a  large  scale,  and  compete  with  any  of  the  merchants  in  the 
county. 

It  is  difficult  to  learn  the  exact  number  of  stores  now  con- 
nected with  collieries.*  The  connection  between  stores  and 
collieries  varies,  and  one  does  not  know  exactly  where  the 
dividing  line  comes  in.  We  found  many  instances  where  the 
officials  emphatically  denied  any  connection  between  the  store 
and  the  colliery,  but  the  employes  just  as  positively  said  there 
was  a  relation  between  them.  As  far  as  we  have  been  able  to 
count,  the  following  would  be  an  approximate  estimate  of 
the  number  of  employes  connected  with  collieries  which  have 
company  stores  of  one  kind  or  another  attached  to  them  : 

NUMBER   OF   COMPANY   STORES. 


District. 

Number  Connected 
with  .Collieries  with 
Company  Stores. 

Percentage  of  the 
Total  Employes  in 
the  District. 

First  

4913 

22.82^ 

Second  

5  909 

38.25 

Third  

6,397 

37.30 

Fourth  

9,604 

66.13 

Fifth 

9  468 

66  24 

Sixth.. 

3  144 

15  80 

Seventh  

7,557 

37.19 

Eighth  

4,609 

36.34 

Total  

51,601 

37.43 

An  approximate  estimate  of  the  number  of  men  affected  by 
this  grievance  in  the  anthracite  coal  fields  would  be  about  37 
per  cent,  of  the  total  number  of  employes.  The  remaining  63 
per  cent,  are  paid  in  cash  and  can  trade  where  they  have  a 
mind  to.  It  will  be  seen  from  the  percentages  in  the  several 
districts  that  some  of  them  are  far  more  afflicted  by  this  evil 
than  others.  The  above  figures  are  not  to  be  taken  as  exact  in 
every  detail.  They  are  given  as  an  approximate  estimate  and 
are  as  near  as  one  can  get  to  a  question  on  which  great  sensi- 
tiveness is  felt  on  the  side  of  operators  and  great  acrimony 
among  employes. 

*  The  following  computation  was  made  before  the  strike  of  last  fall,  and 
hence  before  the  antagonism  against  company  stores  reached  so  acute  a  form 
as  to  drive  some  of  them  under  cover  and  to  reform  gross  abuses  in  others. 
The  effect  of  the  bill  passed  last  June  is  watched  with  interest.  Some  com- 
panies are  instituting  changes  so  as  to  conform  to  the  provisions  of  that  act. 


CHART  SHOWING  DISTRICTS  HAVING  THE  LARGEST  AND  SMALLEST  PER- 
CENTAGE or  EMPLOYES,  WHO  WORK  IN  COLLIERIES 
WHICH  HAVE  COMPANY  STORES. 


GLNELRAL 
37.43% 


CHART  SHOWING  PERCENTAGE  OF  EMPLOYES  THROUGHOUT  THE  WHOLE 

ANTHRACITE  COAL  FIELD,  WHO  ARE  IN  COLLIERIES 

WHICH  HAVE  COMPANY  STORES. 


INCIDENTAL   PROFITS   OF    OPERATORS.  139 


THE   VOLUME   OF   BUSINESS   AND   PROFITS. 

The  volume  of  business  done  by  many  of  these  stores  is  large. 
Three  of  them  under  one  management  in  Lackawanna  county 
did  a  business  in  1899  of  $275,000,  an  average  for  each  store 
of  $7,639  a  month.  Another  store  in  the  same  county  did  an 
average  business  of  $8,000  a  month.  One  in  Schuylkill  county, 
which  was  patronized  by  three  collieries,  had  a  business  of 
$20,000  a  month ;  when  the  operators  discontinued  collecting 
for  this  store  its  business  fell  off  50  per  cent.  Two  of  the 
smallest  stores  we  found  were  in  the  Mahanoy  Valley,  which 
did  a  monthly  business  of  $2,910  and  $3,100,  respectively. 
Two  of  the  stores  recently  discontinued  did  a  business  every 
month  of  between  $9,000  and  $1 1,000.  Some  of  the  largest  we 
met  with  were  in  the  Hazleton  District.  One  of  these  stores 
did  a  business  of  $229,870.17  in  one  year,  or  an  average  of 
$19,155.84  a  month.  The  average  monthly  purchase  by  each 
employe,  estimated  according  to  the  above  figures,  would  be 
about  $14.00.  Computed  on  this  basis,  the  volume  of  business 
done  per  month  by  the  company  stores  throughout  the  anthra- 
cite coal  fields  would  be  $736,722. 

The  profits  of  the  company  store  depends  on  the  volume  of 
business,  the  prices  charged,  and  the  nature  of  the  patrons. 
The  volume  varies  according  to  the  number  of  employes,  the 
prices  depend  largely  upon  the  man  in  charge  of  the  store,  and 
the  patrons  may  be  either  English-speaking  workmen  or  Sclav. 

The  objection  most  commonly  heard  against  company  stores 
is  that  they  charge  more  for  their  goods  than  men  can  buy 
them  for  in  other  stores. 

The  agitators  last  summer  said  that  prices  were  from  25  to 
35  per  cent,  higher  than  in  stores  in  neighboring  towns.  A 
committee  of  the  legislature  of  Pennsylvania,  which  investigated 
the  question  in  1896,  stated  that  prices  were  about  20  per  cent, 
higher.  A  merchant  in  Schuylkill  county,  who  appeared  be- 
fore that  committee,  testified  under  oath  that  they  were  from 
10  to  15  per  cent,  higher.  But  here  again  no  general  rule  can 
be  laid  down.  Company  stores  in  isolated  places,  as  a  rule, 


140  THE  ANTHRACITE   COAL    INDUSTRY. 

charge  higher  for  their  goods  than  business  men  in  town,  but 
some  company  stores  located  in  populous  towns  compete  in 
prices  with  any  store  in  the  community.  Managers  of  truck 
stores  differ  greatly.  Some  insist  on  high  prices,  while  others 
fix  them  at  popular  rates,  so  as  to  secure  a  large  volume  of 
business.  Human  nature  in  the  management  of  company  stores 
is  the  very  same  as  elsewhere.  We  have  met  managers  who  were 
upright,  frank  and  keen  business  men,  and  ran  the  company 
store  so  as  to  compete  with  any  store  in  the  neighborhood ; 
others  there  are  who  are  arrogant,  unscrupulous  and  tyrannical ; 
they  charge  exorbitant  prices,  treat  their  patrons  with  contempt 
and  stoop  to  the  most  contemptible  schemes  to  tyrannize  over 
men  who  dare  to  question  their  authority.  To  make  a  sweep- 
ing generalization  as  to  exorbitant  prices  in  company  stores  is 
therefore  unjust. 

In  comparing  prices  three  things  should  be  taken  into  con- 
sideration. Regular  and  not  special  prices  are  to  be  taken,  the 
quality  of  the  goods  must  be  considered  and  the  kind  of  articles 
sold.  Store-keepers  make  leaders  of  certain  articles  and  put 
the  prices  of  these  at  or  even  below  actual  cost.  To  compare 
these  prices  with  the  prices  of  the  same  articles  in  the  company 
store  is  not  just.  Sugar,  muslin,  calico,  hams  may  under  these 
circumstances  be  from  20  to  25  per  cent,  below  truck  store 
prices.  The  comparison,  however,  is  unfair;  the  regular  prices 
charged  for  these  articles  should  be  taken.  It  is  an  acknowl- 
edged fact  that  the  quality  of  goods  handled  by  the  company 
stores  is  a  grade  higher  than  that  usually  handled  by  general 
stores.  If  prices  are  to  be  compared,  the  same  grade  of  com- 
modities should  be  taken.  A  certain  brand  of  tomatoes  can  be 
sold  three  cans  for  a  quarter ;  another  brand,  two  cans  for  a 
quarter ;  the  one  is  4^  cents  dearer  per  can  than  the  other,  but 
the  reason  is  in  the  brand.  Two  miners'  wives  last  summer 
instanced  the  exorbitant  prices  of  company  stores  by  the  above 
prices  of  tomatoes,  but  they  did  not  mention  the  brand  pur- 
chased. It  may  be  true  that  the  miner  and  his  family  could 
get  along  just  as  well  with  the  cheaper  grade  of  goods ;  never- 
theless the  quality  of  the  article  sold  must  be  taken  into  con- 


INCIDENTAL    PKOFITS   OF    OPERATORS.  141 

sideration  as  well  as  its  price.  The  profits  realized  on  all 
articles  sold  in  a  company  store  are  not  uniform.  On  miners' 
tools,  some  realize  100  per  cent.;  on  ginghams,  75  per  cent.; 
on  dry  goods,  generally  from  50  to  100  per  cent.  Groceries, 
however,  are  ordinarily  sold  by  the  company  stores  at  the  same 
price  as  by  the  credit  stores.  Shoes,  rubbers,  clothing,  hard- 
ware and  furniture  are  sold  at  current  prices  in  truck  stores 
near  cities ;  in  isolated  places,  however,  they  are  from  1 5  per 
cent,  to  25  per  cent,  higher.  It  is  a  fact  that  in  houses  deal- 
ing in  general  merchandise,  profits  vary  greatly,  according  to 
the  articles  sold.  On  commodities  of  prime  necessity,  the  gen- 
eral merchant  is  satisfied  with  10  per  cent,  profits  above  ex- 
penses, but  profits  on  spices,  molasses,  etc.,  are  about  100  per 
cent.  Profits  on  dry  goods,  hardware  and  furniture,  are  higher 
than  those  on  flour,  sugar,  butter,  etc.  This  same  rule  applies 
to  company  stores  and  the  reason  lies  in  the  nature  of  the 
commodity.  On  prime  necessities  which  are  daily  consumed, 
profits  are  small ;  on  articles  that  are  ocasionally  purchased, 
profits  are  higher. 

The  following  table  (on  next  page)  may  serve  as  an  example 
of  the  difference  in  prices  in  three  stores,  where  we  found  the 
difference  such  as  deserved  notice.  It  will  be  seen  that  the  dif- 
ference in  the  prices  of  articles  of  prime  necessity  is  less  than 
that  of  articles  of  luxury.  The  average  percentage  of  excess 
in  each  case  varies,  and  it  shows  how  unjust  a  general  statement 
of  exorbitant  charges  can  be,  when  applied  to  all  stores.  Nos. 
1  and  2  are  in  Schuylkill  county ;  No.  3,  in  Lackawanna  ;  Nos. 
1  and  3  are  in  isolated  localities ;  No.  2  is  near  a  town. 

A  woman  dealing  in  No.  3,  whose  average  monthly  bill  was 
$28,  said  she  could  save  every  month  from  $4.00  to  $5.00  if 
she  got  the  wages  in  money.  Another  dealing  in  No.  1  and 
buying  provisions  for  a  family  of  six,  said  she  could  save  every 
month  from  $7.00  to  $9.00  if  she  got  the  money.  Other 
women  buying  in  company  stores  said  they  could  do  as  well 
there  as  elsewhere. 

Some  of  the  managers  want  large  profits.  A  company  in 
Luzerne  county  expected  25  per  cent,  after  clearing  all  ex- 


142 


THE   ANTHRACITE   COAL   INDUSTRY. 


IS 


O  00  «O  i—  1 


88 


OOO5        CO 


CO        1C  »d  O  O  00  O 

rH         O  O  1C  rH  O  iO 


•0 

33= 


8 


d      •*  ft       O  00   £  g  O  O  O  O  rt<        lO  CO  O  O  rt<  (MO 

0>  £    O  <M  £5       g  rH  rH  rH  rH  rH    O  O  CO  rH  rH       rH  OO  (M 

.'.    'S          o 

J 

fl 

-2        CO  CO  ^  g  rH  rH  rH  rH  rH         O  O  f^>  rH 

"5    *«o          o  'rococo 

€©•        rH  ^  €» 

rH  t^  CO 

rH  1O  CO 

is  '  S 

I   ,"E 

02         ^^^J=    g    gSrHrHrHrHIMOOl?. 

S 


INCIDENTAL   PROFITS   OF   OPERATORS. 


143 


penses.  A  stockholder  in  store  No.  1  received  an  annual  divi- 
dend of  from  80  to  100  per  cent  on  the  stock  he  held.  An 
ex-bookkeeper  of  one  of  the  Hazleton  companies  said  "  the  store 
was  as  profitable  as  a  breaker."  These  profits  realized  from 
company  stores  is  the  reason  they  have  continued  in  existence, 
notwithstanding  the  persistent  effort  of  the  men  to  abolish  them. 
To  small  operators  they  have  been  a  substantial  aid  in  making 
a  poor  colliery  pay. 

The  best  customers  are  the  English-speaking  families.  Their 
bills  generally  amount  to  double  those  of  the  Sclav  per  mem- 
ber of  the  family.  The  following  bills  contracted  in  July, 
1900,  show  the  difference.  They  have  been  taken  from  the 
books  of  one  of  the  stores. 

COMPANY   STORE    PATRONS. 


Date. 

Sclav   Patrons. 

Anglo-Saxon  Patrons. 

Jn 

ly,    19 

00. 

$8.01 

$63.45 

< 

t 

7.70 

41.97 

< 

t 

7.32 

43.33 

4.03 

35.79 

7.70 

72.95 

7.50 

18.38 

10.97 

33.42 

7.20 

21.98 

3.47 

20.65 

t 

i 

2.41 

48.08 

Are  the  men  compelled  to  deal  in  these  stores  ?  It  depends 
wholly  on  the  operators.  Some  never  speak  to  their  employes 
on  the  subject ;  others  use  very  effectual  means  to  secure  their 
trade.  There  is  a  certain  class  of  workers  who  need  no  stim- 
ulus. They  hold  the  best  positions,  and  from  considerations 
of  prudence,  they  patronize  the  truck  store.  Another  class  is 
employed  in  such  distasteful  work  that,  though  they  buy  not 
a  dollar's  worth,  they  are  left  unmolested.  In  one  colliery  a 
never-failing  way  to  get  a  good  place  was  to  run  a  heavy  bill  in 
the  store.  Few  are  the  operators  to-day  who  use  direct  means 
to  compel  the  men  to  trade  with  them.  The  manager  may  speak 
to  the  employes,  and,  if  they  persist  in  withholding  their  patron- 
age, they  are  transferred  to  a  place  where  they  cannot  earn  a 
living  wage  and  so  they  quit.  The  employes  of  a  colliery  in 


144  THE   ANTHRACITE   COAL    INDUSTRY. 

Schuylkill  county  organized  a  Granger  society;  the  operators 
soon  came  to  know  it,  and  forced  the  foreman  to  use  means  to 
break  it  up.  A  sure  way  of  keeping  one's  job  is  to  be  in  debt 
in  the  store.  Indirect  compulsion  is  used  in  many  places. 

In  one  colliery  it  is  an  unwritten  law,  somehow  impressed  on 
the  employes,  that  a  married  man  is  expected  to  deal  monthly  in 
the  store  to  the  amount  of  $  10.00,  and  a  single  man  to  the 
amount  of  $2.50.  In  this  colliery,  a  man  did  not  obey  this 
precept ;  he  drew  all  his  wages  in  money  and  it  was  his  last 
pay  there.  A  foreman,  desiring  to  retain  in  his  service  a  man 
who  did  not  deal  in  the  store,  was  told  by  the  operator,  "  He 
does  not  patronize  us,  why  should  we  patronize  him  ?  "  He  had 
to  go.  These  are  individual  cases  ;  but  they  show  how  opera- 
tors, who  are  men  of  like  passions  as  all  others,  are  influenced 
by  a  store  to  do  that  which  industrial  ethics  condemns,  but 
which  they,  blinded  by  self-interest,  justify  on  business  princi- 
ples. 

Company  stores  have  little  or  no  competition ;  they  spend 
nothing  on  advertising,  and  no  time  or  money  is  wasted  on 
decoration.  The  expense  of  management  is  from  6  to  7  per 
cent,  of  the  sales,  and  the  stock  they  carry  is  about  two  or 
three  times  the  amount  of  their  monthly  trade.  When  three 
or  four  stores  are  under  one  management,  they  have  a  great 
advantage  in  buying  goods  in  large  quantities,  and  get  bottom 
prices.  The  credit  of  the  stores  is  of  the  highest ;  a  large 
wholesale  house  doing  much  business  with  these  stores  said 
it  had  never  lost  a  dollar  through  them.  Company  stores 
sometimes  lose  by  giving  credit.  When  an  employe  is  injured, 
they  see  that  he  is  furnished  with  the  necessaries  of  life  on  credit. 
Some  of  these,  when  they  get  well,  reward  the  kindness  by 
leaving  town  and  never  paying  the  bill.  Hungarians  of  the 
"  smart "  kind  sometimes  steal  a  march  on  the  store  manager. 
It  is  hard  to  distinguish  Huns,  and  their  names  are  the  torment 
of  Anglo-Saxon  tongues.  Thus  one  of  them  occasionally  comes 
for  a  pair  of  boots,  gives  a  name,  which  the  manager  finds 
on  the  book,  and  a  record  of  wages  due  him,  and  so  he  gives 
the  boots.  When  pay-day  comes,  the  manager  finds  that  the 


INCIDENTAL    PEOFITS    OF   OPERATORS.  145 

fellow  used  the  name  of  another  and  has  left  town.  The  losses 
of  company  stores  are  small,  amounting  on  the  average  to  the 
fraction  of  one  per  cent,  on  the  sales.  The  manager  has  to 
exercise  his  authority,  however,  to  hold  some  patrons  in  check. 
One  of  great  experience  said  that  80  per  cent,  of  his  trade  would 
pass  beyond  their  income  unless  they  were  watched.  Hence  they 
use  means  to  hold  this  class  in  check.  Signs  are  generally  relied 
upon.  If  C.  M.  stands  opposite  a  name  on  the  day  book,  the 
clerk  must  send  the  party  to  the  manager.  If  G.  O.,  he  must 
only  give  the  party  the  prime  necessaries  of  life,  and  cut  down 
all  luxuries.  Another  sign  means  that  the  party  is  to  be 
watched.  Then  some  names  go  on  the  "  dead  list,"  when  the 
manager  must  be  seen.  All  this  is  possible  because  the  account 
of  every  man's  earnings  goes  to  the  office  at  the  close  of  every 
day,  and  the  store  manager  has  access  to  the  books. 

THE    GOOD   AND    BAD    OF   COMPANY    STORES. 

There  is  nothing  wholly  good  or  wholly  bad  in  human  affairs. 
There  is  honor  among  thieves  and  sin  among  saints.  The 
company  store  has  its  good  as  well  as  its  bad  features. 

1.  It  offers  the  employe  a  store  on  which  he  can  draw,  from 
the  first  day  he  works,  to  the  full  extent  of  his  earnings.     This 
is  no  small  advantage  to  men  who  come  to  a  mining  town  for 
the  first  time  where  they  are  unknown.     They  cannot  make 
purchases  at  a  cash  store,  for  they  have  no  cash,  nor  at  a  credit 
store,  for  this  requires  a  guarantee  from  some  known  inhabitant 
before  the  proprietor  will  trust  a  stranger.     This   guarantee 
they  cannot  furnish.     When  one  has  worked  a  day  in  a  col- 
liery having  a  company  store  attached,  he  can  enter  the  store 
and  draw  to  the  amount  of  his  earnings   for  that  day,  and 
indeed  it  frequently  happens  that  he  can  get  more  than  he  has 
earned. 

2.  It  gives  the  drunkard's  wife  the  privilege  of  securing 
the  necessary  monthly  supply  for  the  family  before  the  hus- 
band gets  his  wages,  a  large  percentage  of  which  he  would 
spend  on  drink. 

We  have  known  cases  where  wives  were  very  thankful  when 
10 


146  THE   ANTHRACITE   COAL    INDUSTRY. 

their  husbands  worked  in  collieries  having  company  stores 
attached.  They  could  better  secure  food  and  clothing  than 
when  their  husbands  drew  the  pay,  spending  half  of  it  possibly 
in  drink  before  getting  home.  Weak  men,  who  cannot  resist 
the  temptation  of  the  cup,  live  a  more  sober  life  when  working 
under  the  truck  store  system  than  any  other.  Where  the  curse 
of  intemperance  is  as  great  as  it  is  in  mining  towns,  the  company 
store  may  prove  a  blessing  to  many  homes.  If  the  system 
could  be  used  as  a  means  of  discipline,  by  forcing  drunkards  to 
work  under  operators  running  company  stores,  it  would  be  a 
very  effective  means  in  temperance  reform,  and  devoted 
mothers  and  innocent  children  would  find  their  misery  greatly 
mitigated. 

3.  Company  stores  are  one  of  the  most  efficient  means  of 
raising  the  standard  of  life  of  the  Sclav  population  in  mining 
communities.     The  standard  of  living  of  these  people  is  very 
low,  and  they  have  a  tendency  to  perpetuate  it.     Stores  con- 
ducted by  their  own  people  follow  this  standard,  and  there  they 
generally  deal. 

Company  stores  follow  the  higher  standard  prevailing 
among  Anglo-Saxons,  and  carry  a  high  grade  of  goods.  They 
do  not  fall  to  the  Sclav  standard,  though  a  large  number  of 
their  patrons  are  of  that  nationality.  The  result  is  that  the 
Sclav  gradually  approximates  more  closely  to  the  higher  stand- 
ard of  living,  and  purchases  articles  of  luxury  which  he  would  do 
without  if  he  did  not  weekly  and  monthly  come  in  contact  with 
a  store  which  carries  them  and  with  people  who  buy  them. 
When  we  consider  the  great  influence  exerted  on  the  character 
and  condition  of  labor  by  the  standard  of  living  held,  any 
means  which  tends  to  raise  that  standard  serves  a  good  purpose. 
The  truck  store  has  had  that  influence. 

4.  The  company  stores,  largely  removed  from  competition, 
and  sure  of  their  money  for  the  articles  they  sell,  are  able  to 
carry  a  higher  grade  of  goods,  to  secure  a  higher  standard  of 
credit,  and  to  offer  better  conditions  to  their  employes,  than 
might  otherwise  be  possible. 

The  stress  of  competition  drives  general  storekeepers  to  lower 


INCIDENTAL   PROFITS   OF    OPERATORS.  147 

the  standard  of  the  goods  they  sell,  in  order  to  meet  the  demand 
for  low  prices.  Wholesale  merchants  have  considerable  trouble 
in  this  regard.  Goods  are  frequently  returned  to  them  from 
retailers,  who  ordered  them  because  of  the  low  figures  at  which 
they  were  offered,  but  which  could  not  be  sold.  This  is  hardly 
ever  the  case  with  company  stores,  and  the  reason  is,  that  they 
are  not  driven  by  competition  to  clutch  at  low  prices  and  reduce 
the  quality  of  the  goods  they  carry.  The  credit  of  the  company 
store  is  good.  It  is  very  seldom  any  one  of  them  goes  into 
bankruptcy.  When  several  of  them  are  under  one  manage- 
ment, they  can  buy  in  large  quantities  and  pay  cash  for  the 
commodities.  There  is  no  reason  why  these  stores  could  not 
compare  in  prices  with  any  store  whatsoever.  We  know  of  sev- 
eral in  the  Northern  and  Southern  coal  fields  which  do  so. 
Employes  generally  prefer  to  be  engaged  in  company  stores 
rather  than  in  private  ones.  The  wages  are  on  the  average 
higher,  the  hours  shorter,  and  they  are  not  subject  to  the  stress 
of  competition  in  the  regular  run  of  .business.  The  clerk  of 
the  company  store  hardly  ever  goes  out  to  solicit  business,  which 
is  the  rule  in  other  stores,  and  is  disagreeable  work.  Truck 
stores  always  close  at  six  o'clock  in  the  evening,  general  stores 
seldom  close  so  early.  The  advantages  workingmen  seek  in 
unionism  from  the  disastrous  effect  of  unrestrained  competition 
in  labor,  are  enjoyed  by  the  employes  of  company  stores,  which 
fact  renders  these  positions  attractive  to  clerks  everywhere. 

There  is  another  side  to  the  question  :  there  are  bad  features 
inseparably  connected  with  company  stores, 

1.  Nothing  is  more  encouraging  to  the  workingman  than  to 
have  his  share  of  the  production  turned  over  to  him  period- 
ically in  the  currency  of  the  realm.     This  is  not  possible  in  the 
company  store.     Indeed,  it  is  often  the  case  that  men  draw    AX" 
what  is  known  as  a  "  bob-tail  check."     Men  are  known  to  ! 
work  for  months  in  succession,  and  on  pay-day  draw  a  slip  of  Cf 
paper  stating  that  nothing  is  coming  to  them.     What  is  more 
discouraging  to  a  man,  after  working  all  the  month,  than  to  re- 
ceive such  a  due-bill  as  the  following,  which  was  actually  paid 
an  employe : 


148  THE   ANTHRACITE   COAL   INDUSTRY. 

Coal  mined,  49  tons  at  71  £  cents  =  ...  $35.03 

Supplies $8.25 

Blacksmith 30 

Fixing  two  drills 30 

Rent 6.00 

Groceries,  etc 20.18 

Total .$35.03 

Net  Balance $00.00 

A  system  under  which  such  a  contingency  as  a  "  bob-tail 
check  "  is  possible  is  demoralizing  to  the  social  and  industrial 
instincts  of  workmen.  Men  take  pride  in  their  earnings.  They 
want  to  see  them,  to  handle  them,  to  feel  the  magic  touch  of 
the  product  of  their  labor  in  the  concrete  form  of  dollars  and 
cents.  Operators  during  the  campaign  of  1896  appealed  to 
this  sentiment.  They  paid  their  men  in  gold  and  silver,  and 
the  ring  of  that  coin  was  invigorating  and  exhilarating,  and  a 
clinching  argument  to  the  practical  miner  against  any  scheme 
to  debase  the  currency.  Payment  of  wages  in  currency  has 
always  a  beneficial  effect  upon  labor.  Men  have  a  sense  of  in- 
dependence in  the  enjoyment  of  their  month's  wages,  which 
they  can  never  get  by  taking  it  out  piecemeal  during  the  month. 

It  may  be  said,  that  it  amounts  to  the  same  thing  after  all. 
True,  but  the  ordinary  mine  employe  is  not  a  philosopher,  and 
the  just  pride  in  possession  which  we  all  feel  only  comes  into 
the  life  of  most  of  these  men  in  the  wages  they  earn,  and  no 
system  should  be  tolerated  which  closes  the  door  through  which 
this  power  comes,  which  builds  up  manhood.  The  effect  of  a 
"  bob-tail  check"  is  seen  in  its  most  lamentable  form  in  the 
case  of  young  boys.  Who  will  not  pity  these  little  lads,  when 
they  burst  into  a  flood  of  tears  as  they  bring  home  such  a  wage 
after  the  month's  work  ?  The  child  is  father  of  the  man  here, 
and  every  miner  who  has  drawn  a  "  bob-tail  check  "  knows 
how  the  boy  feels. 

2.  Company  stores  encourage  improvidence.  Humanity  in 
the  lower  stages  has  no  economic  foresight.  When  tribes  and 
hordes  begin  to  look  ahead,  they  are  on  the  way  out  of  savagery. 
It  has  taken  civilized  nations  many  centuries  to  develop  such 
economic  foresight  as  is  seen  in  the  highest  races  to-day.  It  is 


INCIDENTAL    PROFITS   OF    OPERATORS.  149 

not  astonishing  then,  if  among  groups  of  men  even  in  civilized 
society,  we  still  find  this  high  attainment  in  a  very  undeveloped 
condition.  That  is  the  case  in  hundreds  of  families  in  the  an- 
thracite coal  fields.  Storekeepers  who  watch  the  habits  of 
men  know  how  true  this  is.  When  one  of  the  managers  of  a 
company  store  said  that  80  per  cent,  of  the  families  in  the  coal 
fields  were  liable  to  purchase  goods  in  excess  of  what  the  wages 
warranted,  he  simply  affirmed  that  the  majority  of  people  lack 
economic  foresight.  Few  house- wives  can  see  the  pay-day  four 
or  six  weeks  ahead,  and  regulate  their  purchases  so  that  the 
aggregate  amount  of  the  orders  will  not  exceed  the  husband's 
wages.  They  only  think  of  the  present  need,  and  the  store- 
book  is  the  talisman  which  opens  the  cornu-copia.  They  imagine 
that  the  goods  cost  nothing,  and  are  only  reminded  of  it  by 
the  manager  checking  them  in  their  extravagance.  There  are 
model  house-wives  found  in  anthracite  mining  communities, 
whose  economic  foresight  is  perfect,  but  these  are  the  most  bitter 
enemies  of  the  company  store.  They  know  well  how  much 
they  could  save  if  all  the  earnings  of  the  family  were  turned 
over  to  them  in  cash.  Hence  the  company  store  is  a  source  of 
evil  to  both  classes  of  house- wives.  To  the  thriftless  woman  it 
is  the  means  of  confirming  her  in  her  thriftlessness  ;  to  the 
thrifty  it  is  a  source  of  constant  irritation  and  checks  her 
laudable  ambition  to  save  and  lay  by  in  store  for  the  hour  of 
need. 

3.  The  company  store  is  humiliating  in  depriving  families, 
of  ready  cash  in  the  hour  of  emergency.  When  the  young 
man  pays  the  clergyman  for  marrying  him  by  an  order  on  the 
store,  when  the  charitably  disposed  woman  gives  help  by  a 
pound  of  coffee  or  tea  from  the  store,  and  the  father  goes  to 
beg  for  a  dollar  or  two  to  get  medicine  for  his  sick  child,  there; 
is  roused  a  strong  and  deep  sense  of  injustice,  and  a  discontent 
which  disturbs  the  peace  of  the  home  and  the  harmony  of  so- 
ciety. The  dissipated  also  use  the  company  store  in  ways  that 
testify  to  what  depths  men  can  fall,  drawn  down  by  vitiated 
appetites. 

Thus  men  have  been  known  to  secure  at  the  company  store 


150  THE   ANTHRACITE   COAL   INDUSTRY. 

a  ham  worth  $1.60  and  exchange  it  over  the  bar  for  50  cents' 
worth  of  drink ;  or  a  pair  of  boots  worth  $2.50  and  sell  them  for 
$1.00  for  the  same  purpose.  Women  are  not  free  from  this 
habit ;  for  example,  one  used  to  buy  an  excessive  amount  of 
sugar,  which,  when  investigated,  was  found  to  have  gone  to  the 
saloon  for  drink. 

Tea  and  coffee  are  got  and  traded  in  the  same  way.  Of 
course  the  company  store  is  not  responsible  for  the  depraved 
appetites  of  these  people,  and  managers  do  their  best  to  guard 
against  such  practices ;  but  no  class  of  people  know  better  than 
they  how  prevalent  these  practices  are,  and  our  point  is  that 
payment  in  merchandise  through  the  stores  deprives  men  of 
ready  cash,  which  the  provident  would  wisely  use  and  have  at 
hand  in  the  hour  of  need,  and  the  improvident,  if  they  spent 
all,  could  not  gratify  their  appetite  by  ingenious  devices  for 
trading  goods  got  at  the  store  for  drink. 

4.  In  many  collieries  this  system  results  in  favoritism. 
Coal  operators  would  not  carry  on  a  company  store  if  they  did 
not  expect  their  employes  to  trade  there.  And  as  long  as  hu- 
man nature  remains  what  it  is,  there  will  always  be  a  tendency 
to  favor  those  who  spend  most  of  their  earnings  in  the  store. 
Managers  of  collieries  watch  the  turn  books  of  their  employes, 
and  the  best  work  is  regulated  according  to  the  store  patron- 
age. Seniority,  capacity  and  intelligence  count  for  very  little 
in  these  cases.  The  store  book  decides  who  gets  the  best 
work ;  it  regulates  the  favors  to  be  distributed  ;  it  settles  what 
wages  the  man  may  expect.  The  system  places  a  premium  on 
improvidence  and  incapacity.  The  thrifty  and  industrious 
miner  who  is  blessed  with  a  wife  who  studies  the  best  interests 
of  the  home  and  keeps  down  the  store  account  is  discriminated 
against.  Truck  stores  are  always  open  to  this  abuse.  Those 
managed  by  men  who  resist  it  are  in  the  hands  of  parties  hav- 
ing much  restraining  grace.  Favoritism,  however,  generally 
creeps  in  where  the  truck  store  system  prevails.  Its  fountain 
head  is  the  temptation  inalienably  associated  with  the  company 
store,  and  this  is  one  of  the  prime  causes  which  set  intelligent 
and  conscientious  men  against  the  institution. 


INCIDENTAL    PROFITS    OF   OPERATORS.  151 

5.  It  is  contrary  to  the  laws  of  the  State.     Operators  know 
this,  for  many  of  them  have  contract  forms  which  the  miner 
must  sign  when  he  begins  to  work  for  them,  waiving  any  right 
under  the  laws  of  the  State  to  the  money  kept  for  goods  sold  to 
him  or  his  family  at  the  office.     There  is  only  one  reason  for 
the  persistence  of  mining  companies  in  violating  the  law ;  it  is 
their  greed.     It  is  asked  has  not  the  operator  a  right  to  run  a 
store  ?      Yes  he  has,  but  he  has  no  right  to  sweat  the  wages  of 
his  employes  through  the  company  store,  and  as  long  as  it  is 
connected  with  the  mines  the  door  is  open  for  such  abuse. 
We  know  men  who  despise  any  such  thought,  but  these  very 
men  know  how  some  of  their  neighbors  practice  the  sweating 
system  under  the  form  of  the  company  store.     And  as  long  as 
men  are  liable  to  fall  into  this  abuse,  the  system  which  affords 
them  the  opportunity  should  be  removed.     This  has  been  the 
object  of  legislation  on  the  subject,  but  intelligent  and  patriotic 
men  have  defied  the  law,  and  given  an  example  of  lawlessness 
to  men  who  need,  above  all  else,  a  lesson  in  deep  and  abiding 
reverence  for  the  majesty  of  the  State. 

6.  The  company  store   is  un-American ;  it  is  totally  con- 
trary to  the  character  and  principles  of  the  institutions  of  the 
country.     This  is  why  the  agitators  find,  in  the  company  store, 
a  weapon  they  wield  with  such  marvellous  power. 

We  all  like  to  imagine  that  we  are  free,  and  delight  in  hav- 
ing others  flatter  us  by  saying  that  we  are  free.  The  spirit 
of  opposition  to  tyranny  and  oppression  which  has  been  in  the 
air  for  centuries  has  become  a  constituent  part  of  our  blood. 
When  the  agitator  addresses  an  audience  of  free  Americans, 
and  points  to  the  company  stores  as  an  infringement  of  their 
liberty,  he  never  fails  to  rouse  his  audience  to  a  high  pitch  of 
anger.  It  would  seem  that  prudence  on  the  part  of  operators 
should  lead  them  to  take  out  of  the  hand  of  the  agitator  this 
cudgel,  by  abolishing  the  institution. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

ACCIDENTS. 

1.  PSYCHICAL  EFFECTS  OF  ACCIDENTS.  2.  CLASSIFICATION  OF  ACCIDENTS. 
3.  NUMBER  OF  WIDOWS  AND  ORPHANS.  4.  THE  INJURED  CLASSIFIED 
IN  AGE  GROUPS.  5.  ECONOMIC  Loss. 


Those  who,  unfamiliar  with  mining  communities,  visit  them 
for  the  first  time,  generally  observe  the  large  number  of  maimed 
among  the  inhabitants.  Persons  having  lost  an  arm  or  a  leg, 
or  bearing  on  their  face  and  hands  blue  scars,  or  with  impaired 
eye-sight  or  total  blindness,  are  familiar  scenes  in  mining 
regions.  Over  28,000  persons  have  been  injured  in  the  anthra- 
cite coal  fields  during  the  last  three-quarters  of  a  century, 
while  the  number  of  those  killed  during  that  period  must  be 
not  far  from  12,000.  No  one  can  tell  what  this  means  in  sor- 
row and  suffering.  Every  family  which  derives  its  subsistence 
from  the  mining  industry  has  its  record  of  dark  days  ;  while  in 
the  history  of  every  community  there  stands  forth  some  great 
calamity  which  serves  as  a  landmark  to  the  people,  when  the 
voice  of  mourning  was  heard  in  the  streets  thereof.  A  hus- 
band, or  son,  or  father,  leaves  home  in  the  morning  in  perfect 
health,  and  in  a  few  hours  is  brought  home  a  corpse.  The 
covered  spring  wagon — ambulance — passing  through  town, 
carrying  some  unfortunate  home,  is  so  familiar  a  scene  in  min- 
ing communities  that  it  excites  no  comment.  It  is  regarded  as 
a  necessary  accompaniment  to  the  industry,  and  long  acquaint- 
ance with  disaster  and  death  among  miners,  verifies  the  adage 
"  familiarity  breeds  contempt." 

No  department  of  human  activity  has  recorded  braver  deeds 
or  greater  self-sacrifice  than  that  of  mining.  The  soldier  on 
the  battlefield,  amid  the  blare  of  trumpets  and  a  wave  of  patri- 
otic enthusiasm,  has  wrought  deeds  which  have  been  immortal- 

152 


ACCIDENTS.  153 

ized  in  song  and  poetry :  but  miners  have  exhibited  equal 
bravery  and  self-abnegation  without  the  sound  of  trumpets  or 
the  excitement  of  patriotic  ardor ;  they  acted  from  motives  of 
pure  humanity,  and  most  of  their  deeds  are  buried  with  their 
bones.  The  incident  of  the  late  war  which  has  gone  the  round 
of  the  press  of  an  entire  company  of  soldiers  volunteering  to 
undertake  a  dangerous  expedition,  finds  its  parallel  in  the 
Wyoming  Valley.  When  a  party  of  men  were  hemmed  in  by 
a  fall,  and  the  foreman  asked  for  volunteers  to  go  in  search  of 
them,  all  the  force  of  miners  present  offered  their  services. 
Some  five  years  ago  two  men,  heads  of  families,  discovered  in 
one  of  the  collieries  of  Lackawanna  county,  the  underground 
engine  house  on  fire.  Fourteen  men  were  working  far  in  the 
mines,  and  the  air  current  carried  the  smoke  toward  them. 
Instantly  the  men  gave  the  alarm  to  the  authorities,  and  without 
a  moment's  hesitation  started  for  the  interior  to  warn  the  men 
of  their  danger.  As  they  were  hurrying  back,  the  smoke  grew 
thicker.  They  were  forced  to  return.  The  instinct  of  self- 
preservation  led  them  to  build  a  brattice,  so  as  to  cut  off  the 
air  current,  and  risk  their  lives  on  the  amount  of  air  which  was 
around  them.  Behind  that  barricade  the  sixteen  men  remained 
in  hope  and  fear,  knowing  not  what  their  fate  would  be.  The 
fire  was  extinguished  and  they  were  rescued  after  an  imprison- 
ment of  from  eight  to  ten  hours.  The  two  men  who  risked 
their  lives  to  save  the  fourteen  got  no  reward  save  that  which 
every  brave  man  gets  from  having  done  his  duty.  Thousands 
of  such  deeds  have  been  wrought  in  the  mining  industry,  which 
have  never  been  recorded. 

PSYCHOLOGICAL    EFFECTS    OF    ACCIDENTS. 

One  of  the  beneficent  effects  of  this  element  of  common 
danger  which  ever  surrounds  the  miner  is  to  make  him  the  pos- 
sessor of  a  large  heart.  The  elements  of  sympathy,  tender 
feeling  and  kindness  are  found  among  no  class  of  workingmen 
to  a  greater  degree  than  among  miners.  They  may  be  coarse 
in  language  and  manners,  for  they  are  not  accustomed  to  the 
polished  ways  of  life ;  they  do  not  frequent  the  salons  of  the 


154  THE    ANTHRACITE   COAL   INDUSTRY. 

refined ;  they  cut  black  coal,  and  often  work  where  there  are 
thick  mire  and  water ;  they  are  not  clothed  in  soft  raiment ; 
many  of  them  curse  and  swear  like  veritable  troopers  ;  and  yet 
behind  this  coarse  exterior  beats  a  heart  as  large  as  ever  is 
found  among  men.  In  case  of  need  no  body  of  men  will 
respond  more  readily ;  from  their  meagre  earnings  they  will- 
ingly contribute  to  the  aid  of  a  brother  in  distress,  or  to  an  ap- 
peal from  a  distant  mining  community  which  has  suffered  a 
calamity.  Miners  as  a  rule  are  generous  even  to  a  fault. 

Another  psychological  effect  9f  accidents  is  to  make  the 
miners  careless  in  their  work.  They  are  so  inured  to  danger 
that  they  take  risks,  trusting  to  chance  that  they  will  escape, 
and  neglect  to  take  the  necessary  precautions  to  secure  them- 
selves against  accidents.  Men  of  very  wide  experience  in 
mining  affirm  that  50  per  cent,  of  the  accidents  are  due  to  the 
carelessness  of  the  men.  Inspectors  of  mines  constantly  speak 
of  this  subject. 

In  the  year  1898,  the  chief  of  the  Bureau  of  Mines  says  : 
((  A  large  number  of  accidents  which  have  been  reported  during 
the  year  have  been  due  to  the  carelessness  of  the  injured,  and 
records  show  that  many  of  them  could  have  been  avoided  if 
those  in  authority  had  exercised  the  proper  care  and  discipline 
in  and  about  the  mines."  In  that  year,  the  report  attributes 
41  per  cent,  of  the  fatalities  and  43  per  cent,  of  the  non-fatal 
accidents  to  carelessness.  One  of  the  inspectors,  in  the  same 
report,  refers  to  the  braggadocio  of  a  miner,  who  when  warned 
about  carrying  his  lamp  in  his  cap  when  handling  powder,  re- 
plied :  "  You're  right,  but  I  guess  a  man  may  as  well  pass  in 
his  checks  that  way  as  any  other."  In  another  part  of  the  re- 
port one  of  the  inspectors  says :  "Restrictive  measures  must  be 
applied  upon  the  miners  to  stop  their  own  suicidal  attempts." 

The  same  comment  from  inspectors  runs  throughout  the 
thirty  volumes  published  by  the  State.  In  1875,  one  of  them 
says  :  "  I  am  sorry  to  have  to  report  that  a  majority  of  the  ac- 
cidents that  occur  in  the  coal  mines  are  the  result  of  reckless- 
ness of  the  workmen  themselves."  In  1876,  another  says  that 
one-third  of  the  accidents  in  his  district  are  due  to  the  lamp  and 


ACCIDENTS.  155 

the  pipe  used  by  the  miners.  He  concludes  his  report  by 
saying  :  "  But  until  our  miners  exercise  more  care  in  the  prose- 
cution of  their  dangerous  avocation,  and  legislative  enactments 
are  more  specific  in  their  character,  accidents  will  continue  to 
happen."  Since  the  year  he  wrote  laws  have  been  passed  in 
great  abundance,  and  still  the  accidents  continue  about  the 
same.  The  foreman  is  supposed  to  watch  over  the  safety  of 
the  men,  but  how  can  he  possibly  do  so  when  he  has  from 
300  to  400  men  in  his  charge,  and  is  expected  by  the  opera- 
tors to  see  that  all  details  of  the  colliery  are  accurately  reported 
and  everything  kept  in  good  working  order  ? 

Men  do  not  even  obey  the  commands  of  the  foremen.  They 
neglect  to  stand  the  necessary  props  when  they  are  told  to  do 
so,  although  a  sufficient  supply  of  timber  is  on  hand  and  is  de- 
livered at  the  man's  chamber  when  ordered.  The  miner  is 
supposed  to  put  his  place  in  such  condition  that  the  life  of  his 
laborer  will  not  be  imperilled.  A  miner  of  the  careless  kind 
was  reminded  by  his  laborer  that  he  heard  the  top  "  working," 
which  is  always  a  sign  of  danger,  when  he  got  the  reply, 
"  Shovel  away  and  you  won't  hear  it." 

The  same  carelessness  is  common  in  relation  to  gases.  Miners 
passing  through  doors  neglect  to  close  them,  and  so  change 
the  course  of  the  air,  until  gas  accumulates  in  one  section  of 
the  mines  and  the  result  is  an  explosion. 

It  would  be  a  mistake,  however,  to  imagine  that  all  miners 
are  careless.  No  colliery  would  last  long  if  that  were  the  case. 
There  is  a  large  body  of  men  as  careful  of  the  life  of  their, 
laborers  as  a  father  is  of  his  son.  They  watch  over  the  safety 
of  others  and  guard  the  property  of  the  operators  as  if  it  were 
their  own.  They  are  cooperators  with  the  foremen  in  enforc- 
ing discipline,  and  without  this  class  of  men  the  history  of 
mining  would  be  more  replete  with  calamities  than  it  is. 
There  are  collieries  where  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars 
have  been  invested,  and  one  careless  act  may  start  a  fire 
which  will  necessitate  the  drowning  of  the  shaft  in  order  to 
extinguish  it.  To  maintain  the  proper  discipline  in  such  col- 
lieries is  only  possible  by  the  cooperation  of  many  faithful 


156  THE   ANTHRACITE   COAL    INDUSTRY. 

and  experienced  men,  and  everywhere  throughout  the  coal 
fields  they  are  found. 

Men  act  under  the  excitement  of  an  accident  very  differently. 
Some  are  paralyzed  with  fear  and  are  not  able  to  move ;  others 
are  so  excited  that  they  know  not  what  they  do  ;  others  again 
concentrate  their  minds  on  the  future  world  and  fervently  pre- 
pare themselves  for  a  smooth  passage  to  eternity.  Few  are 
the  men  who  keep  their  wits  and  know  exactly  what  has  oc- 
curred, estimate  the  extent  of  the  danger,  and  set  to  work  to 
devise  ways  of  escape.  An  old  foreman  in  the  Hazleton  re- 
gions tells  his  experience  in  a  recent  explosion.  AVhen  the 
gas  ignited  and  hurled  him  several  yards  along  the  gangway, 
his  last  thought  before  he  lost  consciousness  was,  "  You're  done 
for  this  time."  When  he  gained  consciousness,  his  first 
thought  was,  "No,  you're  not."  He  got  up,  and  although 
seriously  injured,  made  his  way  out  to  seek  help.  Profanity 
is  a  practise  too  common  among  miners,  but  there  are  instances 
when  its  magical  effect  has  saved  life.  A  serious  explosion 
had  occurred  in  one  of  the  Scranton  mines,  and  the  lives  of  all 
not  killed  were  threatened  with  after  damp.  Six  men  were  so 
frightened  that  all  they  could  do  was  to  cling  to  each  other 
and  fervently  pray,  for  they  had  abandoned  all  hope.  At  the 
time  a  burly  fellow  came  along,  escaping  for  life.  He  saw  the 
men  at  their  devotions,  and  with  a  roar  he  leaped  upon  them 
and  shouted,  "  You  damned  fools,  what  the  hell  are  you  at  ? 
Come  out  of  there."  The  six  men  were  saved.  Another  fore- 
man in  a  similar  explosion  had  his  arm  and  two  of  his  ribs 
broken,  and  a  big  gash  cut  on  his  head.  In  this  condition  he 
made  his  way  out,  when,  within  a  hundred  yards  of  the  door, 
on  the  other  side  of  which  there  was  perfect  safety,  he  saw  two 
men  devoutly  praying.  They  were  not  in  the  least  injured. 
He  told  them  it  was  not  time  for  prayer  but  for  action  ;  a  hun- 
dred yards  farther  there  was  perfect  safety.  They  could  not 
be  moved.  He  hurried  out,  and  sent  two  men  in  to  carry 
them  out ;  they  were  barely  saved  from  suffocation. 

Some  very  trying  experiences  come  to  these  men.  There  are 
moments  when  they  have  to  choose  between  two  evils  and  that 


ACCIDENTS.  157 

promptly.  A  man's  foot  is  caught  under  a  fall.  Help  comes, 
but  it  is  found  to  be  impossible  to  liberate  the  member.  The 
particles  of  refuse  coming  from  the  roof  assure  them  that  the 
fall  is  only  partially  down.  One  of  two  things  must  be  in- 
stantly done — either  leave  the  injured  to  his  fate,  or  take  the 
ax,  sever  the  limb  and  take  the  man  with  them.  They  who 
have  had  such  experiences  say,  that  without  exception,  the 
prayer  of  the  injured  man  under  the  fall  is  to  lop  off  the 
member  and  take  him  with  them. 

CLASSIFICATION    OF   ACCIDENTS. 

Accidents  show  a  wide  range  of  variety.  Their  number 
partly  depends  on  the  thickness  of  the  vein  of  coal  worked. 
Accidents  are  far  more  frequent  in  thick  viens  than  in  thin 
ones.  In  the  former,  one  life  is  lost  for  every  83,000  tons  of 
coal  mined;  in  the  latter,  one  for  every  130,000  tons.  The 
character  of  the  colliery  also  has  much  to  do  with  the  number 
of  accidents.  In  the  southern  portion  of  the  Northern  coal 
field,  we  have  the  most  gaseous  mines  found  in  the  United 
States.  In  the  northern  section  of  the  same  coal  field,  from 
Olyphant  to  Forest  City,  there  are  no  explosive  gases  in  the 
veins  which  have  been  hitherto  worked.  Hence  the  number 
of  accidents  in  these  two  sections  differs  greatly. 

The  four  most  fruitful  cases  of  accidents  are  falls  of  rock  or 
coal,  cars,  powder  and  gas.  Adding  to  these  the  accidents  due 
to  machinery,  falling  down  shaft  and  miscellaneous,  we  have 
the  following  classification  on  page  158  for  1870-1899. 

These  figures  have  been  compiled  from  the  reports  published 
by  the  State  from  1870-1899.  For  the  last  decade  the  reports 
have  been  full  and  well  arranged  ;  but  from  1888  back  to  1870, 
some  of  the  inspectors  gave  admirable  reports  while  others 
are  very  imperfect.  In  the  first  two  volumes,  whole  districts 
are  left  out,  and  in  the  succeeding  volumes  up  to  the  year  1878, 
the  data  concerning  fatal  and  non-fatal  accidents  are  not  full. 
Because  of  this  imperfection  in  the  reports,  the  figures  given 
for  the  first  eight  years  are  not  reliable  as  to  the  number  of  ac- 
cidents which  occurred  in  the  anthracite  coal  fields.  From  the 


158 


THE   ANTHRACITE    COAL    INDUSTRY. 


CLASSIFICATION   OF   ACCIDENTS    ACCORDING   TO    CAUSES. 

(F  =  fatal.     K  F.  =  non-fatal.) 


Falling 

Year. 

Gas. 
F.  N  F 

Falls. 
F.  N.  F. 

Cars. 
F.  N.  F. 

Powder. 
F  N.  F. 

Ma- 
chinery 

F.  N.F. 

Down 
Shaft 
and 

Miscel- 
laneous. 
F.  N.F. 

Total. 
F.  N.  F. 

Slope 
F.  N.F. 

1870 

6   86 

45   49 

9   18 

7   31 

6   5 

26   3 

30  106 

129   298 

1871 

26  120 

41   96 

12   49 

11   21 

8  27 

0   13 

31   71 

129   397 

1872 

22  115 

70  141 

22   76 

11   50 

6  11 

17   8 

10   47 

158   448 

1873 

40   91 

105  164 

22   87 

14   14 

3   7 

0   0 

40   16 

224   379 

1874 

34  109 

97  173 

41   90 

13   50 

3  13 

8   17 

32   73 

228   525 

1875 

28   95 

104  275 

25  102 

31   45 

13  22 

7   13 

30   35 

238   587 

1876 

32   96 

100  181 

30   81 

27   36 

3   4 

8   1 

28   54 

228   453 

1877 

18  105 

116  220 

15  100 

13   88 

4  30 

3   2 

25   45 

194   590 

1878 

33   36 

74  221 

23  115 

11   29 

5   5 

4   1 

37   98 

187   505 

1879 

30  131 

133  246 

44  155 

14   82 

4   9 

3   7 

34  166 

262   796 

1880 

21   81 

99  235 

41  138 

9   53 

1   0 

6   3 

25  161 

202   671 

1881 

27  122 

117  286 

53  216 

16   61 

17  10 

6   1 

37  138 

273   834 

1882 

25  100 

130  264 

59  196 

19   50 

13  20 

17   8 

30  178 

293   816 

1883 

28   95 

118  390 

70  339 

43   94 

9   5 

16   0 

39  172 

323  1095 

1884 

19  140 

134  346 

74  256 

33   91 

12   4 

13   7 

47  221 

332  1065 

1885 

31  146 

141  281 

42  224 

25   91 

10  11 

14   4 

93  221 

356   978 

1886 

24  145 

125  323 

42  222 

24  108 

4  31 

10   8 

50  154 

279   991 

1887 

25  186 

147  326 

60  197 

20  122 

6  18 

9   9 

49  190 

316  1048 

1888 

17  149 

177  358 

69  240 

31  120 

7  14 

11   1 

52  155 

364  1037 

1889 

25  200 

174  298 

67  183 

27   95 

10  24 

5   21 

76  176 

384   997 

1890 

65  164 

132  353 

69  228 

20   93 

15  24 

21   2 

56  143 

378  1007 

1891 

44  139 

167  338 

67  236 

43  107 

2  12 

16   10 

88  155 

427   997 

1892 

56  151 

181  335 

67  231 

32   78 

8  15 

9   3 

43  210 

396  1023 

1893 

44  160 

188  329 

85  251 

40  126 

11  12 

9   331  68  158 

445  1069 

1894 

35  109 

194  297 

70  239 

43  110 

10  19 

15   6 

72  139 

439   919 

1895 

32  134 

193  336 

73  223 

52  212 

0   0 

15   6 

57  164 

422  1075 

1896 

46  192 

246  403 

76  255 

43  109 

0   0 

18   4 

73  202 

502  1165 

1897 

36  146 

205  392 

65  238 

49  135 

7   0 

8   7 

54  188 

424  1106 

1898 

37  200 

191  377 

65  263 

33  121 

0   0 

16   3 

69  170 

411  1134 

1899 

32  127 

226  384 

87  233 

33  115 

0   0 

21   13 

62  158 

461  1030 

Grand 

Totals. 

938  3870 

4170  8417 

1524  5481 

787  2537 

207  352 

331  214 

1437  4164 

9394  25035 

nature  of  the  case  the  columns  giving  the  fatalities  are  more 
accurate  than  those  giving  the  non-fatal  accidents.  In  non- 
fatal  injuries,  the  inspectors  try  to  draw  the  line  between  a 
serious  and  a  non-serious  accident.  It  must  be  arbitrarily  done, 
and  depends  largely  on  the  opinion  of  the  inspector.  An  ac- 
cident which  one  inspector  might  consider  worth  reporting,  an- 
other might  not  think  so.  In  case  of  death  within  twenty-four 
hours,  however,  we  have  a  positive  fact  which  gives  accuracy 
to  the  compiled  statistics. 

From  the  preceding  table  we  have  the  following  percentages 
due  to  the  several  causes  mentioned. 


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ACCIDENTS. 


159 


PERCENTAGES    OF    ACCIDENTS. 


Cause. 

Fatal. 

Non-fatal. 

Gas  

9.99% 

15.46% 

Falls 

4439 

33.62 

Cars  and.  machinery 

18.42 

22.30 

Powder 

8.38 

10.13 

Falling  down  shaft 

3.52 

.86 

Miscellaneous              

15.30 

16.63 

The  following  table  partially  taken  from  the  mine  inspectors' 
report  for  1899  gives  the  number  killed  per  1,000  employed 
and  the  number  of  tons  produced  per  person  killed. 

TABLE   GIVING   PER    THOUSAND    KILLED.    ETC. 


Year. 

Total  Fatal 
Accidents. 

No.  Accidents 
per  1,000  emp. 

Total  Tons 
Mined  per 
Fatal  Accid. 

Tot.  No.  Days 
worked  each 
Year. 

No.  Accid.  per 
1,000  emp.  per 
100  ds.  worked. 

1870 

211 

5.929 

59,970 

1871 

210 

5.601 

66,038 

1872 

166 

3.709 

83,735 

1873 

224 

4.647 

83,711 

1874 

231 

4.325 

77,034 

1875 

238 

3.401 

87,795 

132 

2.450 

1876 

228 

3.235 

86,013 

155 

2.087 

1877 

194 

2.902 

113,803 

161 

1.802 

1878 

187 

2.923 

99,794 

134 

2.181 

1879 

262 

3.805 

105,708 

209 

1.818 

1880 

202 

2.753 

122,987 

172 

1.600 

1881 

273 

3.591 

110,659 

218 

1.646 

1882 

293 

3.520 

105,349 

217 

1.622 

1883 

323 

3.533 

104,336 

214 

1.650 

1884 

332 

3.284 

98,076 

190 

1.728 

1885 

356 

3.541 

94,160 

200 

1.770 

1886 

279 

2.707 

122,095 

194 

1.395 

1887 

316 

2.965 

117,522 

210 

1.413 

1888 

364 

3.103 

114,391 

221 

1.404 

1889 

384 

3.226 

101,604 

195 

1.654 

1890 

378 

3.463 

106,033 

191 

1.713 

1891 

427 

3.463 

103,796 

183 

1.886 

1892 

396 

3.051 

115,500 

205 

1.488 

1893 

445 

3.224 

106,021 

207 

1.557 

1894 

439 

3.144 

103,659 

179 

1.756 

1895 

422 

2.939 

121,344 

182 

1.614 

1896 

502 

3.354 

95,766 

171 

1.961 

1897 

424 

2.836 

110,725 

149 

1.903 

1898 

411 

2.886 

114,708 

148 

1.943 

1899 

461 

3.271 

117,211 

180 

1.817 

The  fatalities  in  the  above  table  for  1870,  1871,  1872  and 
1874  differ  from  those  given  in  the  classification  of  accidents. 
We  have  taken  these  figures  from  the  Report  of  the  Bureau  of 
Mines  for  1899  ;  in  the  former  table  we  have  followed  the  fig- 
ures given  in  the  inspectors'  reports  for  those  years. 


160  THE    ANTHRACITE   COAL   INDUSTRY. 

We  should  naturally  expect  that  the  number  of  days  worked 
in  the  year  would  have  some  influence  upon  the  number  of 
accidents,  so  for  comparison  we  add  two  columns  to  those 
taken  from  the  report  of  the  Bureau  of  Mines,  giving  the  num- 
ber of  days  worked  each  year,  and  the  number  of  accidents  per 
thousand  employed  working  one  hundred  days.  The  signifi- 
cant fact  about  this  column  is,  that  in  the  years  the  miners  work 
the  least  number  of  days  we  have  the  highest  averages.  For 
years  of  200  working  days  or  over,  the  average  is  from  1.404 
to  1.818  per  thousand  employed  one  hundred  days  ;  but  for  years 
of  175  working  days  or  less  the  average  is  1.802  to  2.450  per 
thousand  employed  one  hundred  days.  There  are  two  reasons 
for  this.  Collieries  which  work  regularly  are  safer  than  those 
under  a  system  of  intermittent  labor.  When  coal  is  produced 
every  day,  all  the  workings  are  kept  in  fairly  good  condition ; 
when  coal  is  produced  three  days  in  the  week  and  the  mines  are 
idle  the  remaining  days,  the  workings  do  not  get  the  same  at- 
tention and  the  result  is  a  higher  average  of  accidents.  Another 
reason  is  that  miners  employed  every  day  fall  into  a  regular 
manner  of  working  which  promotes  personal  safety ;  but  if  they 
are  idle  three  days  in  the  week,  when  work  is  resumed  their 
surplus  energy  expends  itself  in  intenser  activity  to  produce 
coal,  and  they  are  less  cautious  for  their  personal  safety.  Men 
used  to  daily  toil  take  pleasure  in  the  handling  of  tools  which 
set  in  motion  the  developed  muscles  of  the  body,  and  the  miner, 
after  a  few  days7  suspension,  is  eager  to  ply  the  drill  and  cut 
coal,  often  careless  of  the  conditions  under  which  he  works. 

We  said  that  accidents  are  more  numerous  in  thick  veins  than 
in  thin  ones,  and  since  the  thick  veins  have,  during  the  last  dec- 
ade, been  gradually  exhausted,  and  the  thin  ones  are  being 
operated,  we  should  expect  a  decrease  in  the  percentages  of  ac- 
cidents. The  table  shows,  however,  an  increase  in  the  last 
decade.  From  1880  to  1890,  the  average  per  thousand  em- 
ployed one  hundred  days  is  1.599;  from  1890  to  1899,  it 
is  1.769.  One  explanation  of  this  is,  that  notwithstanding  the 
smaller  veins  are  safer,  so  far  as  falls  are  concerned,  yet  they 
are  buried  deeper  in  the  earth  and  are  harder  to  mine,  and 


ACCIDENTS. 


161 


hence  contain  more  explosive  gases  and  require  the  handling 
of  more  powder.  The  accidents  from  gas  and  powder  show 
an  increase  during  the  last  decade.  Another  change  has  been 
introduced  in  the  last  ten  years  which  is  calculated  to  promote 
safety  of  life  and  limb.  In  the  early  years  of  mining  the  gang- 
ways were  driven  from  nine  to  ten  feet  wide ;  this  hardly  af- 
forded room  enough  between  the  car  and  the  pillar  for  the 
driver  and  his  mule  to  pass,  and  many  accidents  resulted.  A 
change  was  introduced.  The  gangways  are  now  driven  from 
twelve  to  fourteen  feet  wide,  and  the  number  of  accidents  from 
cars  is  diminished. 

Legislation  calculated  to  protect  the  employes  has  particu- 
larly sought  to  reduce  the  number  of  accidents  due  to  falls, 
gas,  powder  and  cars. 

These  have  been  and  still  are  fruitful  causes  of  accidents, 
and  offer  the  legislator  a  tangible  fact  with  which  he  can  deal. 
We  give  below  a  table  of  the  percentages  of  the  total  accidents 
due  to  these  causes  for  the  years  1878-1899. 

PERCENTAGES   OF   ACCIDENTS. 


Year. 

Percentage  due  to 
Gas. 

Percentage  due  to 
Falls. 

Percentage  due  to 
Cars. 

Percentage  due  to 
Powder. 

Fatal. 

Non-fat. 

Fatal. 

Non-fat. 

Fatal. 

Non-fat. 

Fatal. 

Non-fat. 

1878 

17.64% 

7.10% 

42% 

40% 

12.30% 

22.77% 

5.88% 

5.74% 

1879 

11.06 

16.45 

50 

31 

16.79 

19.47 

5.34 

10.30 

1880 

10.39 

12.07 

50 

34 

20.30 

20.57 

4.46 

7.90 

1881 

9.89 

14.62 

42.85 

34.29 

19.41 

25.90 

5.86 

7.31 

1882 

8.53 

12.00 

44.36 

32.35 

20.13 

24.02 

6.48 

6.13 

1883 

8.66 

8.67 

36.53 

35.62 

21.67 

30.96 

13.31 

8.58 

1884 

5.72 

13.14 

40.36 

32.49 

22.29 

24.04 

9.94 

8.54 

1885 

8.70 

14.90 

39.61 

28.73 

11.80 

22.90 

7.02 

9.30 

1886 

8.60 

14.63 

44.80 

32.59 

15.05 

22.40 

8.60 

10.90 

1887 

7.91 

11.06 

46.52 

26.33 

18.99 

15.93 

6.33 

8.78 

1888 

4.67 

14.36 

48.63 

34.52 

18.96 

23.14 

8.52 

11.57 

1889 

6.51 

13.03 

47.92 

24.87 

17.45 

15.35 

7.03 

6.52 

1890 

17.16 

16.28 

34.92 

35.05 

18.25 

22.64 

5.29 

9.23 

1891 

10.30 

13.94 

39.11 

33.90 

15.69 

23.67 

10.07 

10.73 

1892 

14.14 

14.76 

45.71 

32.75 

16.92 

22.58 

8.08 

7.62 

1893 

9.88 

14.96 

42.25 

30.78 

19.10 

23.48 

8.99 

11.79 

1894 

7.97 

11.86 

44.19 

32.32 

15.95 

26.01 

9.79 

11.97 

1895 

7.58 

12.46 

45.73 

31.26 

17.30 

20.74 

12.32 

19.72 

1896 

9.16 

16.46 

49.00 

34.59 

15.14 

21.03 

8.57 

9.36 

1897 

8.53 

13.20 

48.35 

35.44 

15.33 

21.52 

11.56 

12.21 

1898 

9.00 

17.64 

46.47 

33.24 

15.81 

23.19 

8.03 

10.67 

1899 

6.94 

12.33 

49.02 

37.28 

18.87 

22.62 

7.15 

11.16 

11 


162 


THE    ANTHRACITE    COAL    INDUSTRY. 


Average  Percent, 
due  to  Gas. 

Average  Percent, 
due  to  Fall. 

Average  Percent, 
due  to  Cars. 

Average  Percent, 
due  to  Powder. 

Years. 

Fatal. 

Non-fat. 

Fatal. 

Non-fat. 

Fatal. 

Non-fat. 

Fatal. 

Non-fat. 

1880-89 
1890-99 

7.958 
10.066 

12.848 

14.389 

44.158 
44.475 

31.579 
33.661 

18.605 
16.836 

22.521 

22.748 

7.755 
8.456 

8.553 
10.523 

This  table  confirms  our  statement.  Accidents  due  to  gas 
have  increased  about  2  per  cent,  in  the  fatal,  and  1.5  per  cent, 
in  the  non-fatal  column.  Those  due  to  falls  remain  about  the 
same,  only  increasing  in  the  fatality  list  about  .2  per  cent,  and 
in  the  non-fatal  about  2  per  cent.  Total  fatal  accidents  due  to 
cars  have  diminished  about  2  per  cent.,  while  non-fatal  in- 
juries due  to  the  same  cause  have  slightly  increased.  Acci- 
dents due  to  powder  show  an  increase  of  .7  per  cent,  and  2  per 
cent,  respectively.  It  seems  to  be  in  the  nature  of  the  mining 
industry  that  diminution  of  accidents  in  one  direction  is  offset 
by  an  increase  in  another,  so  that  the  total  fatal  and  the  non- 
fatal  injuries  show  a  remarkable  regularity  in  the  last  25  years. 
The  gaseous  nature  of  the  mines  in  Luzerne  and  Schuylkill 
counties  may  be  judged  from  the  following  number  of  accidents 
due  to  that  cause  in  these  localities.  Gas  was  the  occasion  of 
the  following  percentages  of  mining  fatalities  in  these  regions 
from  1892  to  1898. 


Years. 

Luzerne. 

Schuylkill. 

Years. 

Luzerne. 

Schuylkill. 

1892 
1893 
1894 
1895 

44.64% 
70.45 
22.85  ' 
43.75 

39.28% 
20.45 
34.28 
18.75 

1896 
1897 
1898 

34.77% 
38.88 
56.75 

41.30% 
27.77 
37.84 

Self-preservation  is  the  first  law  of  nature,  but  if  we  judge 
from  some  remarks  made  by  inspectors,  this  does  not  seem  to  be 
the  predominating  passion  in  the  lives  of  miners.  One  of  them 
speaks  as  follows  :  "  I  have  not  the  least  doubt  but  that  if  miners 
were  paid  for  timbering,  there  would  be  more  timber  stood,  and 
I  think  many  accidents  avoided ;  as  it  is  now,  in  many  places 
no  compensation  is  given  and  no  more  timber  is  put  in  place 
than  can  be  avoided,  as  it  is  considered  by  workmen  labor  for 
nothing,  unless  they  cannot  work  without  such  timbering." 

The  importance  of  properly  timbering  a  chamber  or  gangway 


ACCIDENTS. 


163 


is  apparent,  when  we  remember  that  over  44  per  cent,  of  the 
total  fatalities  are  due  to  falls.  The  roof  in  some  veins  requires 
the  greatest  care.  This  is  the  case  with  a  kind  of  black  rock 
which  is  next  to  the  coal  in  some  seams.  It  is  a  carbonaceous 
shale,  which  is  perfectly  hard  and  firm  when  first  exposed,  but 
which  soon  swells  and  softens  from  exposure  to  the  atmosphere 
and  breaks  off  in  large  masses.  The  miners  call  it  the  "  man- 
killer/7  and  it  has  killed  more  men  in  the  Wyoming  Valley 
than  any  other  kind  of  rock. 

The  following  table  shows  the  number  of  non-fatal  injuries 
from  1870  to  189 9,  the  number  per  thousand  employed,  and  the 
number  of  tons  mined  per  person  injured. 

TABLE   OF   NON-FATAL   INJURIES. 


Year. 

Total  Non-Fatal 
Accidents. 

Non-Fatal  Accidents 
per  1,000  Employed. 

Tons  Mined  per  Non- 
Fatal  Accident. 

1870 

298 

8.37 

42,462 

1871 

397 

10.59 

34,932 

1872 

448 

10.01 

31,027 

1873 

379 

7.86 

49,476 

1874 

525 

9.83 

33,895 

1875 

587 

8.39 

35,597 

1876 

453 

6.42 

43,291 

1877 

590 

8.83 

37,420 

1878 

505 

7.89 

36,953 

1879 

797 

11.57 

34,769 

1880 

671 

9.14 

37,024 

1881 

834 

10.97 

36,223 

1882 

816 

9.80 

37,827 

1883 

1,095 

11.98 

30,320 

1884 

1,065 

10.53 

30,574 

1885 

978 

9.73 

34,275 

1886 

991 

9.62 

34,374 

1887 

1,048 

9.83 

35,436 

1888 

1,037 

8.84 

40,153 

1889 

997 

8.38 

30,106 

1890 

1,000 

9.16 

40,080 

1891 

997 

8.08 

44,454 

1892 

1,023 

7.88 

44,710 

1893 

1,069 

7.75 

44,134 

1894 

919 

6.58 

49,517 

1895 

1,075 

7.48 

47,634 

1896 

1,165 

7.78 

41,265 

1897 

1,106 

7.39 

42,448 

1898 

1,134 

7.96 

41,574 

1899 

1,030 

7.35 

52,427 

We  do  not  find  in  this  table  the  same  regularity  as  in  the 
fatality  one,  and  the  reason  is  as  above  mentioned  that  the  line  of 


164  THE   ANTHRACITE   COAL    INDUSTRY. 

demarcation  between  reported  injuries  and  those  not  reported 
varies  with  the  discretion  of  the  inspector. 

During  the  years  covered  by  the  reports,  from  1870-1899, 
we  have  a  total  of  9,394  deaths  and  a  total  of  25,035  persons 
injured.* 

NUMBER   OF   WIDOWS   AND    ORPHANS. 

Death  often  comes  to  the  head  of  a  family  and  the  wife  and 
children  must  carry  on  the  struggle  for  existence  without  his  aid. 

Complete  data  as  to  the  number  of  wives  and  children 
affected  by  fatal  accidents  are  not  given  previous  to  the 
year  1884. 

The  table  on  page  165  gives  the  number  from  1884  to  189 9, 
together  with  the  percentage  of  husbands  killed  and  the  average 
number  of  orphans  left  per  widow. 

The  average  number  of  husbands  killed  during  these  sixteen 
years  is  nearly  48  per  cent,  of  the  total  number  of  fatalities. 
The  variation  is  from  41.03  per  cent,  in  1896  to  55.23 
per  cent,  in  1898.  The  number  of  orphans  left  per  widow 
shows  great  regularity,  the  variation  being  less  than  one;  the 
average  number  of  orphans  left  per  widow  during  the  sixteen 
years  is  2.94.  The  total  number  of  widows  is  3,032,  and  that 
of  orphans  8,902. 

An  estimate  of  the  number  of  widows  and  orphans  left  from 
the  year  1820,  when  the  regular  shipment  of  coal  to  market 
began,  must  be  guess-work,  for  official  data  are  wanting.  We 
can  get  some  idea,  however,  from  the  averages  secured  from  the 

*  A  bill  for  the  care  of  injured  miners  was  passed  last  June  to  go  into  effect 
January  1,  1902.  It  provides  that : 

1.  Operators  must  erect  a  commodious  room  in  each  colliery  specially  de- 
signed for  the  treatment  of  injured  employes. 

2.  In  this  room  a  sufficient  quantity  of  linseed  or  olive  oil,  bandages,  linen 
splints,  woolen  and  water-proof  blankets  are  to  be  kept. 

3.  The  duty  of  "  treating  with  oils  or  other  remedies  "  the  burned,  and 
applying  bandages,  splints,  and  linen  to  injuries  involving  loss  of  blood  de- 
volves upon  the  foreman  and  his  assistants.     To  neglect  these  duties  or  to  vio- 
late the  provisions  of  the  act  is  a  misdemeanor  to  be  punished  by  a  fine  not 
exceeding  five  hundred  dollars,  or  imprisonment  for  six  months,  or  both. 

4.  Any  injury  resulting  to  an  employe  because  of  failure  of  operators  to 
comply  with  the  provisions  of  this  act  will  give  the  injured  party  a  right  of 
action  against  the  operator. 


ACCIDENTS. 


165 


foregoing  tables.  Before  1870,  there  were  190,928,364  tons  of 
coal  sent  to  market,  to  this  we  can  add  10  per  cent,  as  repre- 
senting consumption  at  the  collieries  and  local  sales;  this  gives  us 
a  total  tonnage  produced  previous  to  1870  of  210,021,200  tons. 
If  we  take  100,000  tons  as  the  average  produced  per  life  lost, 
we  have  as  an  estimate  of  fatalities  from  1820  to  1870,  2,100. 
From  1870  to  1899  we  have  9,394,  making  a  total  of  11,494 
killed  during  80  years.  According  to  the  accompanying  table, 

TABLE    OF   WIDOWS    AND   ORPHANS. 


Year. 

Total  Number 
of  Married  Men 
Killed. 

Per  Cent,  of  Total  Fatal 
Accidents  in  which  a 
Widow  was  Left. 

Number  of 
Orphans. 

Average  Number  of 
Orphans  for  each 
Widow. 

1884 

148 

44.55% 

408 

2.75 

1885 

167 

46.91 

509 

3.04 

1886 

144 

51.61 

452 

3.13 

1887 

160 

50.63 

529 

3.30 

1888 

178 

48.90 

525 

2.95 

1889 

188 

48.69 

507 

2.69 

1890 

185 

48.94 

608 

3.28 

1891 

186 

43.56 

592 

3.18 

1892 

175 

44.19 

536 

3.06 

1893 

202 

45.39 

593 

2.93 

1894 

210 

47.83 

659 

3.13 

1895 

189 

44.78 

505 

2.67 

1896 

206 

41.03 

542 

2.63 

1897 

218 

51.41 

632 

2.89 

1898 

227 

55.23 

696 

3.06 

1899 

249 

54.01 

609 

2.44 

Total 
and  Av. 

3,032 

47.99 

8,902 

2.94 

47.99  per  cent,  of  the  total  deaths  were  those  of  married  men, 
which  will  give  us  an  estimated  total  of  5,515  women  made 
widows  by  fatal  accidents  in  the  anthracite  mines  from  1820  to 
1899.  If  we  multiply  this  by  the  average  number  of  orphans 
for  each  widow,  given  in  the  above  table,  we  have  an  estimate 
of  the  aggregate  number  of  orphans  from  1820  to  1899  as 
16,214. 

This  estimate  of  the  number  of  widows  and  orphans  in  the 
last  eighty  years  is  below  the  actual  number,  for  the  reason 
that  in  the  early  years  of  anthracite  mining  less  care  was  exer- 
cised by  the  men,  the  conditions  of  the  mines  were  not  as  good 
as  at  present,  and  the  veins  of  coal  were  thicker. 


166 


THE   ANTHRACITE   COAL   INDUSTRY. 


CLASSIFICATION   OF    FATAL    ACCIDENTS    ACCORDING   TO 
AGE-GROUPS. 

The  work  of  driving  in  the  mines  is  almost  wholly  done  by  boys 
from  the  age  of  fourteen  to  twenty  years,  so  that  the  accidents 
due  to  cars  almost  wholly  fall  upon  that  class  of  employes.  Of 
course  there  are  many  men  also  killed  and  injured  by  cars. 

The  law  has  for  many  years  prohibited  men  from  riding  on 
wagons  up  and  down  slopes,  nevertheless  miners  persist  in  doing 
so,  and  last  year  a  foreman  in  Lackawanna  county  brought  on  a 
strike  because  he  enforced  this  law  in  the  slope  under  his  charge. 

In  mining,  as  in  all  other  industries,  there  is  a  scale  of  pro- 
motion along  which  every  youth  who  grows  up  in  the  industry 
passes.  Generally,  the  boy  begins  in  the  breaker  at  the  age  of 
12  ;  when  he  is  14  he  goes  underground  as  a  door-boy  ;  from 
watching  the  door,  he  goes  to  driving.  After  that  he  becomes 
a  laborer,  from  which  position  he  hopes  to  get  a  chamber  of  his 
own  and  enter  the  class  of  miners. 

Since  driving  is  almost  wholly  in  the  hands  of  boys,  the  ac- 
cidents due  to  this  cause  may  be  said  to  be  the  tribute  paid  by 
youth  in  flesh  and  blood  in  the  mining  industry.  It  is  about 
16  per  cent,  of  the  total  accidents.  If  we  consider  the  grades 
of  the  roads  underground,  the  narrow  places  in  which  boys 
work  and  the  meagre  light  with  which  they  have  to  perform 
their  labor,  the  wonder  is  that  the  percentage  is  not  higher. 

The  following  classification  gives  an  idea  of  the  ages  of  those 
who  have  been  killed  in  anthracite  mines  in  the  last  ten  years. 

FATALITIES    ACCORDING   TO    AGE. 


Year. 

13-20 
years. 

21-25 
years. 

26-30 
years. 

31-35 

years. 

36-40 
years. 

41-45 
years. 

46-50 
years. 

51-55 
years. 

56-60 
years. 

61-65 
yrs. 

66-70 
yrs. 

Tot. 
Ace. 

Aver. 
Age. 

1890 

72 

70 

67 

50 

33 

31 

22 

15 

9 

3 

6 

378 

31.89 

1891 

74 

75 

88 

57 

43 

40 

29 

13 

6 

1 

1 

427 

31.74 

1892 

68 

75 

77 

58 

49 

25 

15 

15 

9 

5 

0 

396 

31.15 

1893 

78 

73 

79 

83 

50 

33 

20 

12 

13 

3 

1 

445 

31.21 

1894 

73 

69 

79 

63 

56 

34 

28 

21 

10 

4 

2 

439 

31.15 

1895 

68 

76 

73 

67 

44 

32 

33 

15 

11 

2 

1 

422 

32.69 

1896 

77 

76 

107 

89 

63 

33 

27 

16 

8 

2 

4 

502 

32.36 

1897. 

47 

64 

79 

74 

53 

38 

29 

21 

14 

1 

4 

424 

34.33 

1898 

59 

55 

78 

61 

61 

38 

25 

19 

10 

4 

1 

411 

32.16 

1899 

80 

63 

82 

70 

67 

35 

24 

10 

17 

7 

6 

461 

32.66 

Total. 

696 

696 

809 

672 

519 

339 

252 

157 

107 

32 

26 

4305 

32.13 

s 


s 


X 


^  > 
ss 


o     o 

§  s 


ACCIDENTS. 


167 


In  the  table  the  highest  number  of  the  killed  among  the  men 
is  of  the  age  of  26  to  30  years.  Of  the  total  number  of  fatal- 
ities in  this  decade  696  boys  were  killed,  or  16.15  per  cent. 
After  the  age  of  thirty  the  number  killed  gradually  diminishes 
till  forty,  and  after  that  age  the  decrease  is  more  rapid.  Beyond 
the  age  of  sixty  few  men  are  miners.  Those  of  that  age  who 
are  still  in  the  mines  are  engaged  in  company-work,  which  is 
not  as  dangerous  as  mining.  The  number  of  old  men  in  the 
mines  is  very  small.  The  average  age  of  the  killed  is  32.13 
years.  This  low  average  is  probably  accounted  for  by  the  fact 
of  the  large  number  of  Sclav  immigrants  in  the  coal  fields,  who 
come  here  in  the  dawn  of  manhood,  from  the  age  of  20  to  30 
years.  The  report  of  the  Bureau  of  Mines  for  1899  gives  us, 
for  the  first  time,  complete  statistics  of  the  nationality  of  the 
killed  and  injured : 

NATIONALITY    OF   THE    KILLED    AND    INJURED. 


Nationality. 

Fatal. 

Non-fat. 

Nationality. 

Fatal. 

Non-fat. 

Poles 

152 

259 

Americans 

90 

227 

Austrians  

11 

15 

Irish  

67 

176 

Hungarians 

27 

65 

English 

27 

50 

Russians 

4 

5 

Welsh 

30 

103 

Slovaks 

6 

22 

Scotch 

7 

9 

Greeks      . 

1 

o 

German 

15 

49 

Italians     

13 

32 

French 

0 

5 

Bohemians  

1 

0 

Swiss 

5 

4 

Lithuanians  

5 

11 

Spanish 

o 

1 

Total  

220 

409 

Total  

241 

624 

The  nationalities  which  are  generally  classified  as  cheap  labor 
contribute  47.72  per  cent,  of  the  total  fatalities,  and  39.59  per 
cent,  of  the  non-fatally  injured. 

THE    KILLED    PER    MONTH. 


Yr. 

Jan. 

Feb. 

Mar. 

Apr. 

May. 

June.  1  July. 

Aug. 

Sept. 

Oct. 

Nov. 

Dee. 

1890 

21 

29 

38 

22 

61 

24 

26 

18 

44 

34 

25 

36 

1891 

32 

55 

32 

32 

26 

20 

37 

32 

37 

43 

48 

23 

1892 

29 

35 

23 

34 

25 

25 

53 

37 

29 

31 

41 

34 

1893 

35 

40 

36 

49 

40 

40 

36 

33 

32 

32 

37 

35 

1894 

22 

45 

30 

24 

50 

41 

54 

26 

26 

51 

47 

23 

1895 

34 

30 

40 

27 

34 

35 

36 

21 

20 

52 

44 

49 

1896 

48 

24 

32 

32 

25 

97 

29 

47 

46 

51 

39 

32 

1897 

47 

30 

35 

22 

22 

19 

41 

31 

42 

63 

34 

38 

1898 

28 

22 

25 

24 

37 

36 

25 

33 

38 

46 

46 

51 

1899 

51 

31 

30 

22 

38 

41 

52 

42 

34 

42 

39 

39 

Tot. 

347 

341 

321 

288 

358 

378 

389 

320 

348 

445 

400 

370 

168  THE   ANTHRACITE   COAL,   INDUSTRY. 

The  preceding  table  is  a  classification  of  the  fatal  accidents 
during  the  last  decade  according  to  the  months  in  which  they 
occurred. 

In  the  table  there  is  no  regularity  observed.  No  two 
figures  in  the  same  month  in  successive  years  are  the  same.  In 
the  totals,  the  month  of  October  leads.  If  we  divide  the  year 
into  four  quarters,  the  aggregates  are  as  follows : 

January  to  March 1,009 

April  to  June 1,024 

July  to  September 1, 057 

October  to  December 1,215 

The  last  quarter  leads  the  other  three  by  about  one-fifth. 
This  we  would  naturally  expect,  when  we  remember  that  these 
are  the  months  when  the  season  of  the  year  demands  greatest 
production  and  the  mines  are  kept  the  busiest. 

During  the  year  1899  one  out  of  every  304.73  employes 
was  killed  and  one  out  of  every  136.09  was  injured.  One  out 
of  every  94  persons  employed  was  either  killed  or  injured.  On 
the  railroads  of  Pennsylvania  during  the  same  period,  one  out 
of  every  434  was  killed,  one  out  of  every  21  employes  was 
injured,  and  one  out  of  every  20  employes  was  either  killed 
or  injured.  Deaths  from  accidents  are  more  frequent  in  the 
mines  than  on  the  railroads  in  proportion  to  the  number  em- 
ployed, but  it  is  otherwise  with  injuries. 

ECONOMIC   LOSS. 

The  economic  loss  to  mining  communities  due  to  the  fre- 
quency of  accidents  is  great.  Not  only  is  society  deprived  of 
the  productive  power  of  the  killed,  but  it  frequently  happens 
that  a  wife  and  children  are  left,  who  become  dependent  on  the 
community.  To  this  must  also  be  added  incidental  expenses. 
In  the  case  of  the  injured  the  income  of  families  is  cut  down 
because  of  the  suspension  of  the  productive  power  of  their  mem- 
bers for  a  season,  and  extra  expense  is  incurred  for  necessary 
medical  attendance  and  medicine. 

The  table  classifying  fatalities  in  age-groups  shows  the  vast 
majority  of  the  killed  to  be  less  than  45  years  of  age.  That 


ACCIDENTS. 


169 


is,  the  employes  are  cut  down  in  the  ages  when  their  ex- 
pectation of  life  is  high  and  their  productive  power  is  greatest. 
If  we  measure  the  expectation  of  life  of  these  groups  during 
the  decade  1890-1899,  in  accordance  with  Dr.  Ogle's  Life 
Table,  we  have  the  following  results  : 

EXPECTATION    OF    LIFE    OF    THE    KILLED. 


Age. 

Total  Number  of  Years 
of  Expectation  of  Life. 

Age. 

Total  Number  of  Years 
of  Expectation  of  Life. 

13-20 
21-25 
26-30 
31-35 
36-40 
41-45 

28,814.40 
26,127.84 
27,417.01 
21,008.64 
13,997.43 
8,027.52 

Br't  Forward. 
46-50 
51-55 
56-60 
61-65 
66-70 

125,392.84 
5,166.00 
2,738.08 
1,555.78 
378.88 
244.66 

Total. 

125,392.84 

Grand  Total. 

135,476.24 

The  aggregate  number  of  years  of  the  expectation  of  life 
of  the  killed  during  the  decade  1890-1899  is,  by  this  calcula- 
tion, 135,476.24. 

If  we  estimate  the  average  earnings  at  $400  a  year,  the 
aggregate  loss  to  society  would  be  $54,190,496.  The  num- 
bers of  orphans  and  widows  during  the  decade  were  2,047  and 
5,972  respectively.  If  these  depend  on  society  to  an  extent 
equal  to  the  aggregate  of  three  years'  wages  of  the  deceased, 
the  sum  would  be  $818,800.  The  estimated  loss  to  society  by 
these  deaths  is  as  follows  : 

Loss  from  expectation  of  life $54,190,496 

Sustenance  of  widows  and  orphans 818,800 

Total $55,009,296 

This  is  a  sum  about  equal  to  half  the  amount  of  capital  used 
in  the  anthracite  coal  industry  to  produce  the  54,000,000  tons 
of  coal  mined  in  1899. 

It  is  more  difficult  to  give  an  estimate  of  the  loss  incurred 
from  injuries.  By  a  computation  of  the  payments  made  by  the 
Delaware  and  Hudson  Relief  Fund,  the  average  loss  of  work 
per  employe  due  to  accidents  is  nearly  1.25  days  per  annum. 
For  the  140,583  employes,  this  would  equal  a  loss  of  175,728.75 
days  in  the  year.  If  we  estimate  the  average  wage  per  day  at 


170  THE    ANTHRACITE   COAL    INDUSTRY. 

$1.10,  the  loss  in  wages  would  be  $193,301.62.  We  may  add  a 
dollar  a  day  for  medical  attendance  and  medicine,  and  a  dollar 
a  day  as  an  average  contribution  to  the  sick  from  friendly  so- 
cieties and  relief  funds.  Hence  we  have  a  sum  equal  to  $351,- 
457.50. 

The  estimated  total  loss  then  from  non-fatal  accidents  per 
year  in  the  industry  is  as  follows  : 

Loss  in  wages $193,301.62 

"     "   medical   attendance,  etc 175,728.75 

"     "   benefits  from  societies,  etc 175,728.75 

Total $544,759.12 

Upon  this  basis,  the  total  loss  for  the  decade  1890-1899, 
with  an  average  of  136,580  employes,  was  $5,221,341.80. 
Thus  we  get  the  estimated  total  loss  to  the  anthracite  mining 
communities  from  fatal  and  non-fatal  accidents  for  the  years 
1890-1899  of  $60,230,637.80,  or  a  sum  equal  to  half  the 
capital  necessary  in  the  anthracite  coal  fields  for  the  produc- 
tion of  60,000,000  tons  of  coal. 

Each  adult  male  is  estimated  to  have  cost  $1,000  to  rear. 
Looked  upon  from  the  economic  standpoint  only,  this  loss  to 
society  is  a  great  drain  upon  the  resources  of  the  anthracite 
communities.  When  we  add  to  this  the  amount  of  suffering  en- 
dured and  the  affliction  of  the  bereaved,  the  loss  passes  beyond 
computation.  The  sum  total  of  human  happiness  is  constantly 
diminished  by  this  source  of  economic  loss,  physical  suffering 
and  mental  sorrow.  From  the  study  of  accidents,  one  feels 
how  impotent  legislation  is  to  prevent  them,  and  notwithstand- 
ing the  mournful  experiences  which  come  to  men  year  after  year, 
the  number  of  accidents  remains  about  the  same  annually,  as  if 
there  were  an  implacable  demon  ruling  the  industry,  which 
each  cycle  demands  so  much  sacrifice  of  life  and  blood  to  ap- 
pease him.  It  is  hardly  credible  that  men  will  risk  their  lives 
and  the  happiness  of  their  families  in  a  willful  manner,  and  yet 
the  gross  carelessness  of  miners  as  depicted  by  the  inspectors 
seems  to  imply  this. 


CHAPTER   IX. 

STEIKES. 

1.  HISTORY  OF  STRIKES.     2.  THE  STRIKE  OF  LAST  FALL.     3.  ESTIMATED 
COST  OF  STRIKES.     4.  THE  EFFECTS  OF  STRIKES. 


A  complete  history  of  the  strikes  which  have  occurred  in  the 
anthracite  coal  fields  from  the  inception  of  the  mining  industry 
would  involve  every  colliery  which  has  been  or  is  operated,  for 
none  of  them  has  been  exempt  from  labor  troubles.  In  the 
Report  of  the  Bureau  of  Mines  for  1897,  54  strikes  are  men- 
tioned, in  which  7,614  persons  were  '"implicated,  and  $668,646 
was  lost  in  wages.  If  the  annual  record  of  the  coal  fields 
of  Pennsylvania  were  written,  industrial  warfare  between  the 
cooperating  forces  engaged  in  mining  would  occupy  a  promi- 
nent place.  In  June  and  July  of  last  year  six  local  strikes 
occurred  in  Lackawanna  county,  one  of  which  continued  for  13 
weeks.  These  local  disputes  were  frequent  throughout  the 
anthracite  coal  fields.  They  were  mutterings  of  the  coming  ] 
storm  which  burst  over  the  entire  area  on  September  1 7th,  when  ( 
over  100,000  employes  ceased  work,  and  at  the  end  of  two  \ 
weeks  about  120,000  out  of  140,000  anthracite  workmen  were  j 
on  strike.  It  was  practically  a  complete  tie-up  of  the  anthra- -/ 
cite  coal  industry  and  was  a  great  surprise  to  thousands  directly 
connected  with  mines  and  mining.  Prophets  had  predicted  that 
it  would  be  impossible  to  bring  the  fourteen  or  sixteen  nationali- 
ties into  line  to  effect  a  strike  of  any  importance.  It  was  done, 
and  it  stands  to-day  as  one  of  the  most  marvellous  achievements 
of  organized  labor  in  the  whole  world.  It  was  the  anthracite 
coal  operators  who  first  brought  the  Sclavs  to  the  coal  fields,  to 
break  the  power  of  Anglo-Saxon  labor,  but  these  foreigners  have 
proved  capable  of  forming  labor  organizations  which  are  more 

171 


172  THE   ANTHRACITE   COAL    INDUSTRY. 

compact  and  united  than  any  which  ever  existed  among  the 
various  English-speaking  nationalities,  who  first  constituted 
these  communities.  It  is  conceded  by  men  intimate  with  the 
situation  throughout  the  coal  fields  during  the  last  strike,  that 
its  universality  was  more  due  to  the  Sclav  than  to  any  other 
nationality.  There  would  have  been,  in  all  probability,  a  break 
in  the  ranks  in  Schuylkill  county  had  it  not  been  for  the  firm 
and  uncompromising  attitude  of  the  Sclavs  in  favor  of  the  strike. 
They  have  been  trained  to  obedience,  and  when  they  organize 
they  move  with  an  unanimity  that  is  very  seldom  seen  among 
nations  who  pride  themselves  on  personal  liberty  and  free  dis- 
cussion. 

Our  purpose  in  this  chapter  is  to  give  a  brief  sketch  of  the 
leading  strikes  which  have  occurred  in  the  history  of  anthracite 
mining. 

HISTORY    OF   STRIKES. 

The  first  organized  strike  in  the  anthracite  coal  fields  of 
which  any  record  has  been  kept  dates  back  to  the  spring  of 
1849,  when  the  Bates  Union  flourished  in  Schuylkill  county. 
This  labor  organization  was  formed  in  the  previous  year  and 
continued  in  existence  until  the  fall  of  1850,  when  the  presi- 
dent absconded  and  took  with  him  a  part  of  the  funds.  The 
year  of  its  greatest  activity  was  1849. 

^      In  May  of  that  year,  its  greatest  strike  was  precipitated, 
I  which  lasted  for  several  weeks,  and  had  for  its  object  an  advance 
!  in  wages.     The  miners  held  two  public  meetings,  one  on  May 
second,  in  Minersville,  and  the  other  on  the  following  day  in 
Norwegian  township,  when  resolutions  were  passed,  declaring 
"That  we  have  learned   from   Divine    Providence    that   the 
laborer  is  worthy  of  his  hire,"  and   "That  if  any  man  was 
stopped  because  of  his  participation  in  the  union,  they  would 
all  strike."     A  general  committee  existed  which  was  to  settle 
all  disputes,  but  questions  of  local  interest  were  to  be  dis- 
cussed in  the  local  unions.     The  strike  was  accompanied  by 
v  violence.     Miners,  armed  with  cudgels,  formed  themselves  into 
bands  and  marched  down  the  Black  Valley  to  collieries  which 
were  working,  and  by  intimidation  compelled  the  men  to  join 


STRIKES.  173 

their  ranks.  The  union  then,  as  to-day,  asked  the  companies 
to  meet  its  representatives  and  amicably  adjust  the  difficulties, 
which  the  operators  absolutely  refused  to  do.  Among  the 
grievances  of  the  men  was  the  order  system  which  prevailed 
in  most  collieries.  After  a  struggle  of  some  weeks,  a  compro- 
mise was  agreed  to.  A  central  committee  was  formed,  the 
issues  between  employer  and  employe  submitted  to  it,  and  a 
settlement  effected  by  mutual  concessions. 

At  this  early  date  over-production  was  a  recognized  evil, 
and  the  Bates  Union  attempted  to  correct  it.  On  July  4, 
1849,  the  organization  held  a  picnic  at  Deer  Park  Farm.  A 
grand  parade  was  organized  by  the  members  of  the  union  in 
the  Pottsville  district,  and  to  the  number  of  about  3,000  men, 
they  marched  through  Pottsville  to  the  place  of  rendezvous. 
John  Bates,  of  St.  Clair,  was  the  president  of  the  organization, 
and  the  Pottsville  Miners'  Journal  states  that  from  4,000  to 
5,000  men  were  that  day  assembled  at  Deer  Park  Farm. 
Among  the  resolutions  passed  was  the  following  :  "  That  all 
work  be  suspended  till  Monday,  the  ninth  day  of  July,  believ- 
ing such  a  suspension  is  required  for  our  own  good,  for  the 
good  of  our  employers  and  for  the  interests  of  the  coal  region 
generally.77  Mr.  Bates,  the  head  of  this  organization,  did  not 
escape  criticism  and  suspicion.  He  was  employed  by  the  union 
as  its  field  agent  at  $12  a  week,  together  with  a  horse  and  its 
feed.  He  could  not  have  fared  very  sumptuously  on  that  in- 
come. Accusations,  however,  were  brought  against  him  of 
having  secret  connections  with  the  operators,  of  betraying  the 
interests  of  the  workingmen,  of  having  connections  with  the 
politicians  of  the  day,  and  of  cherishing  political  aspirations  of 
his  own.  Lack  of  confidence  and  meagre  pecuniary  support 
destroyed  the  organization.  Division  and  dissension  invaded  its 
ranks,  and  the  first  labor  union  in  the  anthracite  coal  fields 
dissolved  with  the  absconding  of  its  president. 

It  is  interesting  to  notice  that  in  this  first  recorded  conflict 
between  capital  and  labor  in  the  anthracite  coal  industry,  all  the 
principal  issues  involved  in  the  last  strike  are  present,  and  the 
conduct  of  the  parties  to  the  industrial  conflict  is  very  similar 


174  THE   ANTHRACITE   COAL    INDUSTRY. 

to  that  displayed  in  the  strike  of  last  fall.  The  attempt  of  the 
Bates  Union  to  regulate  production  by  suspension  finds  also  a 
parallel  in  the  discussions  of  the  United  Mine  Workers  in  their 
recent  conventions  held  in  Pottsville  and  Hazelton. 

The  next  period  of  conflict  begins  after  the  close  of  the  Civil 
War  and  continues  for  ten  years.  To  understand  the  struggles 
which  were  waged  in  the  first  half  of  this  period  we  must  re- 
member that  there  was  no  community  of  interests  between  the 
operators  of  the  Northern  and  Southern  coal  fields  previous  to 
the  early  seventies.  Intense  rivalries  and  jealousies  existed  be- 
tween the  operators  of  Schuylkill  county  and  their  brethren  of 
the  Wyoming  Valley,  and  not  until  six  railroads  secured  con- 
trol of  the  major  part  of  the  anthracite  coal  trade  was  there  a 
general  attempt  made  to  regulate  prices  and  production.  The 
relation  of  the  coal  carriers  to  the  trade  is  summed  up  by  the 
editor  of  the  Nation  in  the  issue  of  March,  1871,  in  the  follow- 
ing words  :  "The  country  needs  to-day  about  15,000,000  tons 
of  anthracite  coal  per  annum.  Half  a  dozen  companies  own 
mines  enough  and  railroad  facilities  enough  to  bring  25,000,000 
tons  to  market." 

During  the  Civil  War,  the  price  of  coal  almost  quadrupled. 
In  May,  1862,  it  was  sold  in  Philadelphia  for  $2.78  a  ton; 
in  August,  1864,  it  commanded  $  10.75  a  ton.  Wages  neces- 
sarily rose,  for  labor  was  scarce  and  the  increased  cost  of  the 
essentials  of  life  demanded  higher  wages.  Soon  after  the  close 
of  the  war  the  coal  market  became  sluggish ;  labor,  attracted 
by  high  wages,  had  flowed  into  the  coal  fields,  so  that  a 
diminished  demand  for  coal  and  surplus  labor  brought  down 
wages  in  1865  and  1866.  The  miners  tried  to  resist  the  re- 
duction, and  during  these  years  several  local  strikes  occurred 
in  the  Northern  and  Southern  fields. 

There  were  at  this  time  several  local  unions  among  the 
miners,  the  strongest  of  which  was  at  Locust  Gap  known  as  the 
Miners'  Benevolent  Association.  This,  however,  only  comprised 
a  small  section  of  the  coal  fields,  and  its  influence  was  local 
in  defending  the  rights  of  labor.  The  miners  felt  the  need  of 
a  general  organization  and  united  action  to  maintain  prices  and 


STRIKES.  175 

resist  undue  encroachments  on  the  rights  of  employes  through- 
out the  anthracite  coal  fields.  In  the  fall  of  1867  the  leaders 
of  the  local  unions  came  together,  and  on  July  23,  1868,  the 
Workingmen's  Benevolent  Association  was  chartered,  with  John 
Siney  as  its  President.  This  organization  is  generally  referred 
to  by  the  miners  as  the  old  W.  B.  A. 

The  most  serious  evil  with  which  both  employer  and  em- 
ploye had  to  wrestle  was  over-production,  and  the  W.  B.  A. 
soon  attempted  to  regulate  it  by  a  scheme  similar  to  that  of  the 
old  Bates  Union,  namely,  suspension  of  work  for  a  season,  that 
prices  might  advance  so  as  to  reward  the  investment  of  capital 
in  the  industry  and  give  labor  a  "  fair  wage  for  a  fair  day's 
work."  The  year  1868  is  described  as  a  "  succession  of  strikes, 
suspensions,  agreements,  resumption  and  again  suspension." 

By  the  year  1 868  the  W.  B.  A.  was  strong  in  the  Southern  and 
Middle^coaT  fields,  but  had  not  extended  as  yet  to  the  Wyom- 
ing Valley.  On  July  7,  1868,  a  strike  was  declared  by  the 
miners  of  Locust  Gap  and  Mt.  Carmel.  They  marched  to  the 
Mahanoy  Valley  and  stopped  the  collieries  there,  then  they  ad- 
vanced to  the  Schuylkill  Valley  and  did  the  same.  Thus  most  of 
the  Southern  and  Middle  collieries  were  closed.  They  resolved 
then  to  continue  their  march  to  tKe  Wyoming  Valley  and 
persuade  the  miners  there  to  join  their  ranks.  The  employes 
of  the  Wilkes-Barre  District  joined  them.  Along  the  line  of/ 
march,  they  compelled  all  classes  of  workmen  to  throw  down 
their  tools  and  fall  into  line.  The  mechanics  of  Wilkes-Barre 
were  forced  to  quit  work  and  join  the  strikers ;  the  same 
was  done  with  the  force  working  on  the  Wilkes-Barre  jail  at 
that  time.  The  sheriff  of  Luzerne  county  addressed  them  and 
asked  them  to  disperse,  but  to  no  purpose.  As  they  advanced, 
however,  along  the  Wyoming  Valley,  the  miners  of  the 
Northern  coal  field  did  not  respond  as  the  paraders  had  antici- 
pated. The  strikers  came  as  far  as  Pittston,  where  their  en- 
thusiasm was  so  dampened  by  the  indifference  of  the  miners  then 
working  that  they  abandoned  their  march  and  returned  home. 

The  chief  demand  of  the  strikers  at  this  time  was,  that 
eight  hours  should  comprise  a  day's  work,  while  the  wages 


1  76  THE    ANTHRACITE   COAL    INDUSTRY. 

should  remain  the  same.  This,  if  granted,  would  be  equal  to 
an  advance  of  20  per  cent.  The  strike  lasted  in  Schuylkill  till 
August  28th.  The  eight-hour  movement  was  lost,  but  the  men 
gained  10  per  cent,  advance.  The  collieries  in  the  Pottsville 
region  produced  173,812  tons  of  coal  less  than  in  the  previous 
year. 

The  jealousies  existing  between  the  operators  of  the  Northern 
and  Southern  coal  fields  were  reflected  also  in  the  employes. 
The  Northern  miners  refused  to  join  their  brethren  from 

)  Schuylkill  in  1868,  as  the  latter  had  refused  to  aid  the  Wyo- 
ming Valley  men  in  1865.  That  year  the  employes  of  the 
Delaware  and  Hudson,  of  the  Delaware,  Lackawanna  and  West- 
ern and  of  the  Pennsylvania  Coal  Co.  had  a  three  months' 
strike.  The  miners  of  Schuylkill  county  during  this  time 
supplied  the  market  demand  and  their  brethren  in  Luzerne, 
after  three  months'  conflict,  were  glad  to  return  to  work  on  the 
old  terms. 

The  need  of  cooperation  and  united  action  was  more  than 
ever  felt  by  the  miners,  and  in  the  fall  of  1868,  organizers  of 
the  W.  B.  A.  were  sent  into  the  Wyoming  Valley,  so  that  by 
the  autumn  of  the  following  year,  the  organization  was  said  to 
have  30,000  members  out  of  about  35,000  anthracite  mining 
employes. 

In  December  of  the  same  year,  the  Schuylkill  operators  an- 
nounced a  reduction  of  25  per  cent.  The  miners  resisted  and 
declared  a  strike.  They  offered  to  take  10  per  cent,  reduction 
on  the  wages  paid  the  previous  October,  but  after  a  strike  of 
five  weeks,  they  began  work  on  January  20th,  at  the  old  rates. 
V  The  miners  in  the  Northern  coal  field  did  not  participate  in  this 
[  strike. 

The  W.  B.  A.  had  by  this  time  acquired  great  power.  On 
January  23,  1869,  the  executive  committee  of  the  Coal  As- 
sociation of  Schuylkill  county  issued  circulars,  stating  that  the 
men  had  stopped  deadwork,  that  the  union  governed  prices,  and 
all  they  needed  to  perfect  their  work  was  to  dictate  prices  at 
tide-water.  They  declared  that  they  could  not  compete  with 
the  Northern  operators,  because  the  wages  they  paid  were  30 


STEIKES.  177 

per  cent,  higher  than  those  paid  the  men  in  the  Scranton  dis- 
trict. In  the  following  month,  the  Schuylkill  district  of  the 
W.  B.  A.  agreed  to  accept  the  rate  of  wages  paid  in  the 
Northern  coal  field,  that  their  operators  might  compete  with 
their  rivals  in  the  Wyoming  Valley. 

On  March  17,  1869,  the  W.  B.  A.  delegates  met  in  Hazle- 
ton  and  drafted  a  list  of  grievances,  among  which  were  com- 
pany stores,  a  "  5  per  cent,  shave  "  of  the  wages  paid  in  cash, 
the  company  doctor,  the  keeping  of  wages  due  miners  at  pay 
day,  and  the  increased  capacity  of  mining  wagons,  which  were 
now  said  to  hold  three  tons.  They  were  prepared  also  to  de- 
mand the  eight-hour  day,  and  issued  a  circular  letter  to  the 
operators  requesting  them  to  meet  the  representatives  of  the 
labor  organization  in  joint  convention  on  April  third  following 
"  to  discuss  and  adjust  grievances." 

The  demand  was  now  made  for  the  adjustment  of  wages  ac- 
cording to  the  price  of  coal  at  certain  points.  The  Pottsville 
Miners'  Journal  suggested :  "  If  a  scale  of  prices  for  labor 
based  on  the  scale  of  the  prices  of  the  average  sizes  of  coal 
could  be  adopted  and  adhered  to — rising  when  coal  rises,  and 
falling  when  coal  falls — it  would  remove  many  of  the  diffi- 
culties." On  May  10,  1869,  the  union  ordered  a  general  sus-v 
pension  to  secure  the  sliding  scale.  All  sections  ceased  work 
save  the  employes  of  the  Delaware,  Lacka wanna  and  Western 
and  of  the  Pennsylvania  Coal  Co.  The  employes  of  these 
companies  however  joined  the  ranks  of  the  strikers  on  June  10. 
The  operators  were  willing  to  meet  the  employes,  but  they 
objected  to  being  "  dictated  "  to  by  them.  A  sliding  scale  was 
adopted.  When  coal  sold  at  $3.00  a  ton  at  Port  Carbon,  outside 
labor  was  to  get  $11.00  a  week  ;  inside  labor  $12.00  ;  platform 
men  $1 1.50,  and  miners  $14.00  clear  of  all  expenses.  Prices  of 
coal  were  to  be  taken  from  five  operators,  each  producing  more 
than  30,000  tons  a  year,  and  to  be  selected  every  month  by  repre- 
sentatives of  the  union.  The  sizes  to  be  taken  into  consideration 
were  75  per  cent,  large  coal,  12  J  per  cent,  chestnut,  and  12 J 
per  cent,  peanut  coal.  For  every  advance  of  25  cents  over  the 
$3.00  a  ton,  50  cents  was  to  be  added  to  the  weekly  wage  and 
12 


178  THE   ANTHRACITE   COAL    INDUSTRY. 

5  cents  on  the  price  paid  per  wagon  for  mining.     The  price  of 
coal  was  not  to  fall  below  $3.00  a  ton. 

In  the  Lehigh  region,  the  basis  was  $5.00  a  ton  at  Eliza- 
bethport,  New  Jersey.  Work  was  resumed  under  this  system 
on  June  16th  in  the  Southern  coal  field;  and  on  July  1st  in 
the  Lehigh  region  ;  but  the  Delaware,  Lackawanna  and  Western, 
the  Pennsylvania  Coal  Co.  and  the  Delaware  and  Hudson  Canal 
Co.  absolutely  refused  to  adopt  the  sliding  scale,  and  their  em- 
ployes were  out  until  September  1st,  when  work  was  resumed 
on  liberal  terms  offered  by  the  operators  who  would  not  grant 
other  terms  than  so  much  per  car  for  mining  coal. 

The  sliding  scale  agreement  drafted  by  the  men  themselves 
was  expected  to  work  smoothly.  It  did  not,  however.  In 
August,  the  union  asked  for  a  20-per-cent.  advance,  which 
was  10  per  cent,  above  the  rates  coming  to  them  on  the  basis 
laid  down  the  previous  June.  It  was  a  gross  violation  of  the 
contract  voluntarily  entered  into  by  the  miners.  The  rates  to 
be  paid  each  month  were  secured  by  an  operator  and  the  presi- 
dent of  the  W.  B.  A.  going  to  Philadelphia  to  get  figures  from 
the  books  of  the  selected  operators.  In  October,  the  committee 
reported  that  the  price  of  coal  was  below  $3.00  a  ton  at  Port 
Carbon.  The  cry  was  immediately  raised  that  the  committee  was 
bought  by  the  companies,  and  some  collieries  went  on  strike. 

In  January,  1870,  the  Anthracite  Board  of  Trade  of  Schuyl- 
kill  county  served  notice  on  its  employes  that  the  $3.00  basis 
was  too  high.  They  proposed  a  $2.00  one,  which  would  reduce 
the  wages  of  miners  from  $14.00  to  $10.00  a  week  and  that  of 
all  other  classes  of  labor  proportionately.  The  Schuylkill  men 
struck.  The  union  now  ordered  a  general  suspension,  asking 
for  eight  hours  a  day  and  the  old  basis.  The  order  was  not 
generally  observed.  The  Shamokin  and  Lehigh  regions,  and 
the  Northern  collieries  continued  to  work.  In  March  the 
operators  offered  a  compromise  by  figuring  the  basis  at  $2.50. 

The  W.  B.  A.  considered  the  proposal  in  convention  at  Sum- 
mit Hill  and  rejected  it.  In  July  following,  the  miners  met 
at  Pottsville  and  offered  to  go  below  the  $3.00  basis  as  well  as 
above  it.  Franklin  B.  Gowan  was  now  president  of  the  Read- 


STRIKES.  179 

ing  Railroad,  having  been  elected  to  that  office  in  April  of  the 
previous  year.  He  came  to  Pottsville,  entered  into  communi- 
cation with  the  miners  and  effected  an  agreement  on  what  has 
been  known  since  as  the  "Gowan  compromise."  The  basis 
was  to  be  |>2.50,  but  the  following  wages  were  to  be  paid  : 
Outside  Iabor,^f9v.±^a  week ;  inside  labor,  $9.96,  and  miners, 
$11.90.  On  this  compromise  work  was  resumed  in  August. 

The  power  of  the  union  was  now  supreme.  Its  leaders  dic- 
tated terms  and  prices  to  operators,  to  which  they  must  com- 
ply if  they  wished  to  stay  in  the  business.  The  unreasonable 
and  arbitrary  demands  of  the  men  crushed  scores  of  individual 
operators,  while  it  added  to  the  strength  of  corporations  by 
bringing  more  collieries  under  their  control.  Affairs  had  as- 
sumed such  a  condition  in  many  localities  that  the  operators 
could  not  say  their  property  was  their  own.  Everything 
pointed  to  a  gigantic  struggle  which  was  to  decide  whether  cap- 
ital or  labor  was  to  govern  the  anthracite  coal  industry.  A 
warning  of  the  pending  struggle  was  given  by  President  Dick- 
son,  of  the  Delaware  and  Hudson  Canal  Co.,  to  a  committee  of 
the  W.  B.  A.  who  waited  on  him.  He  said :  "  The  only  question 
involved  in  the  issue  is  whether  the  property  shall  be  controlled 
and  the  policy  of  the  company  determined  by  the  owners,  or 
whether  it  shall  be  committed  to  the  care  and  direction  of  an 
irresponsible  organization,  and  in  determining  this  question  the 
managers  are  strong  in  the  belief  that  the  stockholders  can  have 
but  one  opinion." 

The  operators  chose  the  hour  of  conflict.  The  canals  were 
generally  closed  for  a  few  months  in  winter.  About  the  close 
of  November,  1870,  the  three  leading  companies  of  the  North- 
ern coal  fields  gave  notice  of  a  reduction  of  30  per  cent.  The 
men  responded  by  a  strike  on  December  6th.  The  Northern  men 
were  now  anxious  that  the  Middle  and  Southern  miners  should 
join  them.  Delegates  jrf  the  W.  B.  A.  convened  at  Tamaqua 
on  January  10,  1871,  and  passed  an  order  for  a  general  strike. 
All  collieries  throughout  the  anthracite  coal  fields  were  shut 
down  with  the  exception  of  a  few  in  Northumberland  county. 
The  strike  lasted  until  May  1st  in  the  Wyoming  and  Lacka- 


180  THE   ANTHRACITE    COAL   INDUSTRY. 

wanna  valleys.  Then  a  few  shafts  were  started  by  the  Dela- 
ware, Lackawanna  and  Western  Company.  Riots  ensued.  The 
military  power  of  the  State  was  called  out  and  in  a  conflict  be- 
tween it  and  the  strikers,  two  of  the  miners  were  shot  and  sev- 
eral wounded.  The  fire  of  conflict  was  quenched  in  human 
blood.  Collieries  resumed  work  after  nearly  six  months'  idle- 
ness. Labor  was  utterly  defeated  in  the  contest.  The  men 
went  to  work  on  the  terms  of  the  employers. 

In  Schuylkill,  the  question  of  the  basis  was  submitted  to  arbi- 
tration. Judge  El  well,  of  Northumberland  county,  was  chosen 
arbitrator,  who  decided  to  fix  the  basis  at  $2.75,  which  gave  the 
miner  $1 3.00  a  week  clear  of  expenses  ;  inside  laborer,  $1 1 .00 ; 
outside  laborer,  $10.00;  10  per  cent,  reduction  on  contract 
work,  and  1  per  cent,  advance  or  reduction  for  every  3 -cent 
change  in  the  price  of  coal,  but  the  price  was  not  to  fall  lower 
than  $2.25  at  Port  Carbon.  The  collieries  resumed  work  May 
13th.  The  Lehigh  region  began  work  on  June  1st  on  the  terms 
offered  by  the  employers.  Labor  was  crushed.  The  Work- 
ingmen's  Benevolent  Association  was  utterly  demoralized.  An 
attempt  was  made  to  perpetuate  the  organization  by  changing 
its  name  to  that  of  Miners  and  Laborers  Benevolent  Associa- 
tion, but  its  prestige  was  gone.  National  antipathies  had  been 
engendered  by  the  strike  and  no  longer  was  united  action  pos- 
sible among  men  who  had  suffered  and  bled  for  a  cause  which 
resulted  only  in  misery  and  strife. 

The  labor  organization  was  now  charged  with  being  a  polit- 
ical machine.  The  great  strike  brought  prominently  before  the 
people  of  the  State  the  consolidation  of  the  large  railroad  cor- 
porations, among  which  the  Reading  Co.  was  a  most  conspic- 
'  uous  example.  A  committee  from  the  Legislature  of  Pennsyl- 
vania was  appointed  in  the  fall  of  1871  to  investigate  into  the 
rates  charged  by  the  Reading  Coal  and  Iron  Company.  The 
leaders  of  the  labor  organization  were  summoned  before  the 
committee  to  make  good  the  charges  they  had  so  freely  vented 
in  their  public  addresses.  They  failed  to  establish  them. 
Franklin  B.  Go  wan  defended  the  Reading  Company  and  won  a 
complete  triumph  by  proving  on  constitutional  grounds  that  the 


STRIKES.  181 

railroad  could  charge  whatever  rates  it  chose.  He  also  showed 
that  consolidation  was  a  necessity,  and  delineated  the  tyranny 
and  lawlessness  practised  by  combinations  of  laborers. 

After  1871,  practically  there  was  no  workingmen's  organi- 
zation in  the  Northern  coal  field.  In  the  Middle  region,  the 
dissolution  of  the  W.  B.  A.  was  not  so  complete ;  there,  some 
enthusiastic  members  still  tried  to  stem  the  receding  tide.  In 
the  Southern  coal  field  the  organization  was  still  strong,  and  now 
acting  under  the  name  of  the  Miners  and  Laborers  Benevolent 
A s^ociaHorr  chartered  by  a  special  act  of  the  Legislature. 

No  strike  of  any  importance  took  place  for  the  next  three  \ 
years.     In  January,  1875,  the  Schuylkill  operators  announced    \ 
a  reduction  of  10  per  cent.     The  miners  threw  down  their     \ 
tools,  and  then  followed  what  is  still  known  in  Schuylkill  county      \ 
as  the  "  long  strike."    It  was  over  five  months'  duration.    This       1 
shattered  the  last  remnant  of  the  old  W.  B.  A.     The  miners 
of  the  Northern  coal  field  worked  during  this  long  suspension 
in  the  Southern  coal  field,  and  the  strikers  bitterly  complained      / 
of  their  lot  by  saying  that  they  held  the  cow  and  the  Wyo-     / 
ming  Valley  men  milked  it. 

In  June  tlie_Schuylkill  miners  began  work  at  a  20-per- 
cent, reduction.  The  labor  organization  was  completely  broken. 
Dissension  came  into  the  ranks  of  the  workingmen.  The 
miners  refused  to  contribute  to  the  expenses  of  the  representa- 
tives who  were  to  determine  the  scale  of  wages,  and  from  that 
day  till  the  abandonment  of  the  sliding  scale  last  fall,  the  rates 
paid  labor  according  to  the  prices  of  coal,  were  wholly  left  in 
the  hands  of  the  operators.  Before  the  long  strike  of  Schuyl- 
kill ended,  a  reign  of  terror  prevailed  in  many  communities, 

which  resulted  in  much  litigation. 

r--— ---n  fe  yf  . 

In  1 877 1  the  great  railroad  strike  made  it  impossible  to 
operate  the  mines  and  a  general  suspension  was  the  result. 
The  air  was  full  of  assertions  concerning  the  rights  of  labor 
and  the  tyranny  of  capital.  The  miners  of  the  Delaware, 
Lackawanna  and  Western  and  of  the  Delaware  and  Hudson 
joined  in  the  chorus,  rehearsed  their  grievances  and  demanded 
25  per  cent,  advance  in  wages.  Their  demands  were  refused 


182  THE   ANTHRACITE    COAL    INDUSTRY. 

x    1    and  a  three  months'  strike  ensued.     During   this  strike  the 

1  Schuylkill  miners  milked  the  cow  and  the  men  of  the  Lacka- 

f  wanna  Valley  held  it.     Labor  riots  were  the  order  of  the  day 

and  the  anthracite  coal  fields  were  not  exempted.     Riots  are 

subject  to  the  law  of  imitation,  and  the  contagion  spread  among 

the  miners.     Feelings  ran  high.     The  tension  in  the  city  of 

Scranton  was  higher  than  in  any  other  section  of  the  coal  fields. 

1    A  city  guard  was  organized  there  to  preserve  law  and  order. 

\    Frequent  meetings  were  held  by  the  miners,  and  into  one  of 

\  these  mass  meetings  held  in  August,  some  vicious  wretch  flung 

a  torch  which  precipitated  a  deadly  conflict. 

A  letter  was  handed  to  the  chairman  of  the  meeting,  which 
purported  to  come  from  one  of  the  operators.  The  men  shouted 
"  Read  it,"  and  there  was  no  alternative  but  to  do  so.  It  was 
a  statement  saying  that  the  operator  would  force  his  employes 
to  work  for  a  dollar  a  day.  The  storm  burst  in  all  its  fury. 
The  passions  of  men  passed  beyond  all  restraint.  They 
marched  through  the  principal  street  of  the  city  in  defiance  of 
all  authority.  The  City  Guard  was  called  out  and  a  conflict 
ensued,  in  which  four  men  were  killed  arid  over  a  score  wounded. 
Again  the  flame  of  conflict  waTquencHed  in  human  blood,  and 
soon  after  the  collieries  were  started. 

The  next  strike  of  any  magnitude  was  that  of  1887-88, 
?C~which  extended  through  the  Lehigh  and  Schuylkill  regions. 
The  miners  of  the  Lehigh  region  affirmed  that  they  were  not 
paid  the  regular  rate  of  wages  according  to  the  basis  laid  down 
in  1870  ;  that  the  cars  had  grown  since  the  prices  were  fixed, 
but  that  the  prices  had  remained  the  same  ;  and  that  it  was  un- 
just to  require  the  men  to  buy  a  chain  and  block  to  hold  the  car 
in  place  on  pitching  veins.  In  1884  the  Miners  and  Laborers 
Amalgamated  Association  was  organized  at  Mt.  Carmel ;  by 
1887  it  numbered  about  30,000  members  in  Luzerne,  Carbon 
and  Schuylkill  counties.  About  the  same  time  the  Knights  of 
Labor  were  actively  engaged  in  organizing  the  anthracite  coal 
miners.  Many  of  the  employes  in  the  Middle  and  Southern  dis- 
tricts were  members  of  the  Amalgamated  Association  and  of  the 
Knights  of  Labor,  and  in  the  summer  of  1887  the  majority  of 


STRIKES.  183 

the  members  of  the  former  organization  voted  to  unite  their 
forces  with  the  latter,  which  was  then  in  the  heyday  of  its 
triumphs.  The  Knights  of  Labor  championed  the  cause  of  the 
Lehigh  miners,  and  endorsed  a  strike  in  November,  1887. 

Attempts  were  made  to  bring  out  the  miners  of  Schuylkill, 
but  this  was  overruled  in  the  district  convention  by  a  motion 
to  continue  work  and  pay  a  monthly  sum  toward  the  strikers. 
The  Reading  Co.  also  advanced  the  wages  of  their  employes 
and  reduced  the  price  of  powder  in  order  to  induce  the  miners 
to  continue  at  work.  As  the  Reading  men  aided  the  striking 
miners,  so  did  the  Reading  Railroad  aid  the  Lehigh  Valley 
Company.  ^Against  this  the  miners  protested.  The  friction  in- 
creased, so""that  by  January  6,  1888,  the  Schuylkill  men  were 
also  out  in  sympathy  with  the  Lehigh  region.  An  attempt  was  N.  . 
made  at  arbitration.,  but  the  operators  said  that  the  President 
of  the  Knights  of  Labor  knew  nothing  of  anthracite  mining, 
and  was  not  qualified  to  judge  of  the  dispute.  The  strike  lasted 
from  November,  1887,  in  the  Lehigh  region,  and  from  January, 
1888,  in  the  Schuylkill  region,  till  March,  1888.  The  strike 
was  fatal  to  the  cause  of  the  Knights  of  Labor,  whose  strength 
was  utterly  BrB^e1^"^s'~lar^as  "tBe"  anthracite  coal  fields  were 
concerned. 

THE   STRIKE    OF    LAST    FALI//^£ 

No  strike  of  any  extent  occurred  among  the  anthracite  miners 
after  1888  till  last  fall,  when  one  of  the  most  successful  strikes  in 
the  history  of  the  anthracite  coal  industry  occurred.  In  1897 
the  United  Mine  Workers  of  America  of  the  bituminous  coal 
fields  sent  organizers  into  the  anthracite  mining  towns.  The 
organization  rapidly  took  root  in  the  Northern  coal 
was  of  slower  growth  in  the  Middle  and  Southern.  By  1900 
it  had  gained  sufficient  strength  to  call  a  convention  at  ifezleton 
to  discuss  the  grievances  of  the  anthracite  miners.  The  con- 
vention met  on  August  15th,  and  a  list  of  twelve  grievances 
was  drafted,  among  which  were  : 

1.  Excessive  dockage,  topping  and  too  many  pounds  in  the 
ton  taken  by  the  companies. 

2.  Discrimination  as  to  prices  and  distribution  of  cars. 


184  THE   ANTHRACITE    COAL    INDUSTRY. 

3.  Cutting  regular  prices  and  dockage  of  time  when  the 
breaker  was  idle  during  the  working  day. 

4.  Demand  pay  every  two  weeks. 

5.  Excessive  price  demanded  for  powder. 

6.  Exorbitant  prices  and  compulsion  to  deal  in  company 
stores. 

Circular  letters  were  issued  to  the  operators  inviting  them  to 
meet  the  representatives  of  the  miners  in  joint  convention  on 
August  27th,  "to  discuss  amicably  and  adjust  the  various 
grievances."  The  employers  paid  no  attention  to  the  circular. 
The  miners  held  their  convention  on  the  above  date  and  passed 
a  resolution  asking  the  national  executive  board  of  the  United 
Mine  Workers  of  America  to  endorse  a  proposition  for  a  strike. 
After  a  careful  examination  of  the  appeal,  the  national  executive 
board  unanimously  endorsed  the  proposition,  and  on  September 
12th,  President  John  Mitchell  issued  an  order  that  all  miners 
and  mine  workers  in  the  anthracite  coal  fields  should  cease  work 
on  Monday,  September  17th.  In  the  Northern  coal  field,  the 
order  was  literally  obeyed.  From  Forest  City  to  Wanamie, 
not  a  colliery  worked  Monday,  September  17th.  In  the 
Middle  and  Southern  fields,  some  20,000  employes  did  not 
obey ;  some  of  the  collieries  of  the  Lehigh  Navigation  Coal 
Company,  those  of  Markle  &  Co.,  and  mines  in  the  Lykens 
and  Panther  Creek  Valleys  continued  to  work.  In  two  weeks' 
time,  the  number  of  mining  employes  still  working  was  reduced 
to  about  5,000 ;  so  that,  practically,  the  whole  of  the  366  col- 
lieries in  the  anthracite  coal  fields  were  tied  up. 

Early  in  October,  the  Reading  Company  posted  notices  at  its 
collieries  that  it  would  give  10-per-cent.  advance  on  the  wages 
paid  in  September.  The  other  companies  soon  followed  suit. 
A  convention  was  then  called  by  the  miners  to  meet  in  Scranton 
on  October  12th  to  consider  the  proposition  of  the  employers. 
They  voted  to  accept  the  10-per-cent.  advance,  but  made  the 
demand  that  the  sliding  scale  which  had  been  in  vogue  in  the  \ 
Middle  and  Southern  fields  since  1870  be  discontinued,  that  the 
.price  of  powder  be  reduced  to  $1.50  a  keg,  and  that  the  ad- 
rvance  agreed  upon  be  continued  till  April  1,  1901.  These  de- 


STKIKES.  185 

mands  were  agreed  to  by  the  companies,  and  an  order  was 
issued  to  resume  work  on  October  29th,  after  a  suspension  of 
40  days  or  the  loss  of  six  weeks'  labor. 

The  successful  issue  of  the  strike  was  a  great  triumph  for 
labor  in  general,  and  for  the  United  Mine  Workers  of  Amer- 
ica in  particular.  Much  of  the  success  was  undoubtedly  due 
to  the  fact  that  the  strike  was  ordered  at  an  opportune  time. 
It  came  on  when  the  Presidential  campaign  was  rising  to  fever 
heat,  and  the  issues  of  the  political  parties  were  presented  to 
the  people  by  the  leading  orators  of  the  day.  The  Democratic 
candidate  at  once  used  the  anthracite  coal  strike  to  confirm 
some  of  his  statements  and  to  illustrate  the  inexorable  greed  of 
trusts  and  combinations.  It  was  a  weapon  any  demagogue 
could  use  with  terrific  power.  If  the  strike  were  allowed  to 
develop  into  distress  and  riot,  no  one  could  predict  what  the 
effect  would  be  on  the  neighboring  States  which  held  the  bal- 
ance of  power  in  deciding  the  Presidential  election.  This  was 
clearly  seen  by  the  leaders  in  the  campaign,  and  pressure  was 
brought  to  bear  upon  the  operators  to  settle  the  dispute.  The 
Financial  Chronicle  of  October  27th  says  :  "Had  the  strike 
been  allowed  to  develop  into  an  excited  contest,  attended  by 
riots  and  bloodshed,  with  a  large  portion  of  the  140,000  men 
and  their  families  in  absolute  want  for  daily  bread,  as  was  the 
promise,  it  might  have  so  far  absorbed  attention  as  to  almost 
hide  from  view  the  great  issues  at  stake  in  the  election.  The 
banker  who  foresaw  all  that  and  forced  settlement  before  the 
threatening  irritation  had  assumed  the  more  dangerous  stage, 
acted  with  the  discernment  and  long-sightedness  which  have 
many  times  marked  his  distinguished  career/' 

The  same  periodical  predicted,  when  the  strike  was  ordered, 
that  it  must  necessarily  fail,  "  Because  the  railroads  and  mining 
companies  that  increased  their  expenses,  under  present  circum- 
stances and  prospects,  would  be  doing  an  extremely  heedless 
thing." 

The  acceptance  of  the  miners'  terms  by  the  operators,  the 
Chronicle  explains  by  saying,  "  That  if  there  ever  was  a  case 
where  the  consent  to  terms  of  settlement  was  secured  by 


186  THE   ANTHRACITE    COAL    INDUSTRY. 

duress  the  coal  strike  settlement  is  such  an 
Others,  however,  believe  that  the  profits  realized  by  the  coal 
operators  were  high,  and  that  the  concession  of  10-per-cent. 
advance  was  due  the  men  and  should  have  been  granted  with- 
out precipitating  a  conflict. 

The  strike  was  conducted  in  a  peaceful  manner  for  the 
greater  part.  A  riot  occurred  in  Shenandoah,  in  which  two 
men  were  killed  and  abgnt  thirty  wounded.  In  many  other 
sections^feelings  were  high  strung,  and  ominous  signs  indicated 
that  if  the  contest  had  lasted  longer  and  an  attempt  made  to 
operate  the  collieries,  there  would  have  been  serious  riots  and 
bloodshed. 

ESTIMATED    COST   OF   STRIKES. 

A  strike  is  war,  and  war  is  costly.  During  the  strike  of 
1887-1888  the  stocks  of  the  Lehigh  Coal  and  Navigation 
Company  and  of  the  Reading  Company  depreciated.  In  the 
month  of  January,  1888,  the  Lehigh  Valley  Company  lost  in 
tonnage  111,597  tons.  During  the  strike,  the  shipment  over 
the  Reading  railroad  fell  off  to  the  amount  of  380,156  tons. 
The  loss  in  wages  during  the  five  months7  strike  amounted  to  ^ 
millions  of  dollars.  During  the  Lattimer  riots  of  1896,  the 
soldiery  sent  to  the  scene  of  conflict  cost  the  state  $30,000  a  > 
week.  But  we  can  best  get  an  idea  of  the  cost  of  a  strike  in 
the  coal  fields  by  an  estimate  of  the  loss  incurred  in  the  one  of 
last  fall.  No  exact  account  can  be  given  of  the  loss  incurred 
in  industrial  warfare.  The  following  account  is  only  approxi- 
mate. 

1.  Loss  to  labor.  There  were  from  120,000  to  130,000 
mining  employes  involved  in  thlTIast  strike.  We  will  take  the 
first  nttmber.  These  120,000  hands  were  idle  from^Septem- 
ber  17th  to  October  29th,  which  represented  six  weeks'  work. 
Trade  is  usually  brisk  at  this  time  of  the  yeaf^so  that  we  can 
take  $1.50  as  an  average  daily  wage  of  the  employes.  This 
rate  for  36  days  for  120,000  employes  would  aggregate  $6,- 
480,000,  which  was  lost  in  wages  throughout  the  coal  fields 
during  the  strike.  If  we  take  the  average  earnings  of  mine 
employes  at  $30.00  a  month,  it  will  take  the  140,000  anthra- 


STRIKES.  187 

cite  mine  workmen  over  a  year  to  make  up  through  the  ten- 
per-cent.  advance  what  was  lost  during  the  strike. 

2.  Loss  to  capital.      The  loss  to  the  capitalist  was  incurred 
in  two  ways.     During  the  strike,  it  was  necessary  to  keep  a 
force  at  the  mines  to  see  that  the  water  was  kept  down,  the 
mules  fed,  and  the  avenues  of  transportation  underground  kept 
open  :  these  items  of  fixed  charges  went  on  every  day.     Then 
came  the  direct  loss  from  a  suspension  in  the  production  of 
coal. 

At  least  from  ten  to  twelve  men  would  be  necessary  at  each 
of  the  366  mines  to  keep  them  in  order.  Their  wages  would 
aggregate  $25.00  a  day,  which  for  all  the  collieries  would 
amount  to  $292,800.  The  14,348  mules  must  be  fed,  which, 
at  $2.00  a  head  per  week,  would  amount  to  $172,176.  Inci- 
dental expenses  would  amount  to  about  $10.00  a  day,  which 
would  aggregate  $146,400.  Thus  the  expense  of  keeping  the 
collieries  open  for  the  40  days  amounted  to  $611,376. 

In  September,  1899,  4,502,880  tons  were  produced  at  the 
mines ;  in  the  same  month  last  year,  2,959,550  tons ;  which 
was  a  loss  of  1,553,330  tons.  In  October,  1899,  4,899,303 
tons  were  produced;  in  October  1900,  813,531  tons ;  which 
was  a  loss  of  4,085,772  tons.  Hence  the  total  loss  of  tonnage 
during  the  strike  amounted  to  5,639,102  tons.  If  we  put  the 
returns  to  capital  at  50  cents  a  ton,  the  total  loss  would  be 
$2,819,551.  Thus  the  total  loss  to  mining  companies  from  the 
above  two  sources  amounted  to  $3,430,927. 

3.  Loss  to  the  railroads.      The  Financial  Chronicle   in    its 
issue  of  December  1,  1900,  computes  the  loss  in  gross  earnings 
of  seven  railroads  for  the  month  of  October  at  $6,812,368,  and 
a  loss  in  net  earnings  of  $2,899,412.     The  loss  of  the  Erie, 
the  Delaware  and  Hudson,  and  the  Delaware,  Lackawanna  and 
Western  is  not  included  in  this  sunou     In  its  issue  of  January 
19,  1901,  it  states  that  the  loss  from  the  strike  in  revenues  to 
the  Lehigh  Valley  was  no  less  than  $1,200,000.     The  per- 
centage of  the  total  production  of  the  Lehigh  Valley  for  the 
year  1900  was   15.32  per  cent.     It  is  reasonable  to  suppose 
that  the  other  lines  lost  amounts  varying  directly  as  their  per- 


188  THE   ANTHRACITE    COAL   INDUSTRY. 

centages  of  the  total  production.     Estimated  in  this  way,  the 
total  loss  of  the  railroads  from  the  strike  was  $7,835,511. 

5.  During  the  month  of  October  the  price  of  anthracite  ad- 
vanced to  the  consumer  from  $2.00  to  $3.00  a  ton.  If  we  take  an 
average  advance  of  $2.00  a  ton  on  the  813,303  tons  sent  to  mar- 
ket in  that  month  as  the  tribute  paid  by  consumers  to  the  war 
in  the  anthracite  coal  fields  we  have  a  sum  of  $1,626,606. 
Bringing  together  these  four  sources  of  loss  due  to  the  strike 
we  have  : 

Loss  of  Wages  to  Employes $6,480,000 

Loss  to  Mining  Companies 3,430,927 

Loss  to  Railroads 7,835,511 

Loss  to  Consumers 1,626,606 

Total $19,373,044 

Thus  the  total  cost  of  the  last  strike  to  society,  estimated 
from  the  economic  standpoint  only,  was  not  far  from  twenty 
millions  of  dollars.  On  this  computation,  the  strike  cost  an 
average  of  $484,323.60  every  day  it  lasted,  or  nearly  half  a 
million  of  dollars.  The  expense  attached  to  the  calling  out  of 
the  soldiery  to  quell  the  riots  in  the  Mahanoy  Valley,  as  well 
as  the  expense  incurred  by  companies  in  hiring  special  detec- 
tives and  purchasing  supplies  to  safeguard  collieries  against  con- 
tingencies which  might  arise  from  disturbances,  are  not  included 
in  the  above  computation.  The  figure  attained,  however,  is 
enough  to  convince  all  of  the  enormous  expense  to  society  of 
industrial  warfare. 

THE    EFFECTS    OF   THE    STRIKE. 

The  effects  of  the  strike  were  far-reaching.  The  Delaware, 
Lackawanna  and  Western  ships  coal  to  the  West  and  loads  its 
cars  eastward  with  grain  and  produce ;  the  strike  cut  off  that 
source  of  revenue.  The  employes  of  railroads  were  laid  off. 
Railroad  rolling  stock  for  the  transportation  of  coal  was  almost 
wholly  idle.  The  number  of  cars  used  by  the  Reading  rail- 
road for  the  shipment  of  coal  to  market  is  55,468,  while  the 
number  used  by  all  the  anthracite  carrying  companies  is  about 
277,350.  During  the  strike  these  empty  cars  for  many  miles 


STEIKES.  189 

lined  the  passenger  train  tracks  of  the  prominent  railroads  in 
the  coal  fields  and  at  the  terminals,  which  was  a  glaring  testi- 
mony to  the  ruinous  effect  of  the  suspension  of  operations 
among  the  anthracite  miners.  Coal  agents  at  the  terminals, 
coal  heavers  at  the  wharves,  coal  retailers  at  the  cities  and 
towns  of  the  Eastern  and  Middle  States,  felt  the  effect  of  the 
strike. 

The  wheels  of  a  great  industry  cannot  be  stopped  without 
disturbing  the  commercial  equilibrium  of  the  whole  country. 
The  enlightened  conscience  of  the  twentieth  century  condemns 
war  as  barbarous ;  strikes  fall  into  the  same  category,  and 
should  also  be  condemned  as  barbarous.  Surely,  the  ingenuity 
of  man  which  has  successfully  wrestled  with  great  and  intricate 
problems,  ought  to  devise  means  whereby  industrial  convulsions 
of  this  nature  could  be  avoided. 

The  effects  of  the  strike  are  more  apparent  in  the  anthracite 
coal  fields  than  elsewhere,  for  there,  thousands  of  workmen  were 
directly  concerned  in  the  dispute.  The  victory  won  by  labor 
was  greeted  with  unbounded  enthusiasm ;  it  has  had  an  intoxi- 
cating effect  in  many  regions,  and  the  gravest  danger  now 
arises  from  the  pride  of  victory.  Human  nature  under  the 
stimulus  of  conquest  seldom  knows  where  to  stop.  Conscious- 
ness of  power  in  labor  rarely  consults  either  prudence  or  justice. 
Extremists  come  to  the  front  and  take  the  reins.  There  is 
danger  that  the  judgment  and  discretion  of  competent  leader- 
ship will  not  be  able  to  control  the  force  it  has  called  into  ex- 
istence, so  that,  passing  beyond  restraint,  the  fruits  of  a  past 
victory  will  be  lost. 

What  the  future  relation  between  employer  and  employe  will 
be  in  the  anthracite  coal  fields  remains  to  be  seen,  but  the  air 
is  full  of  elements  which  threaten  a  storm,  before  which  any 
conflict  that  has  occurred  in  the  past  history  of  the  anthracite 
coal  industry  will  pale  into  insignificance. 

The  strike  injured  the  status  of  hundreds  of  families.  They 
had  no  margin  before  the  strike,  and  40  days'  suspension  of  in- 
come has  thrown  them  into  debt  from  which  it  will  take  them 
long  to  be  released.  Many  struggled  bravely  to  build  homes,  but 


190  THE   ANTHRACITE    COAL,    INDUSTRY. 

the  strike  has  brought  them  into  arrears,  from  which  every  nerve 
must  be  strained  to  recover.  Some  during  the  strike  suffered  the 
want  of  the  necessaries  of  life,  but  their  needs  were  supplied  by 
their  fellow-workmen,  who  stood  ready  to  divide  the  portion 
they  had  with  those  who  suffered  in  a  common  cause. 

Strikes,  above  all  else,  promote  the  sense  of  the  solidarity  of 
labor.  During  the  progress  of  the  strike  in  the  anthracite  coal 
fields  labor  leaders  from  nearly  every  State  in  the  Union  visited 
the  scene  of  conflict  and  addressed  the  strikers.  The  miners 
were  conscious  that  they  were  but  a  part  of  the  great  army  of 
workers  which  form  the  brawn  and  sinew  of  the  Republic.  In 
the  contest  they  waged  against  capitalists  and,  corporations  they 
were  but  martyrs  in  a  common  cause,  which  involved  all  labor. 
Sentiments  of  this  nature  were  expressed  by  the  visitors,  and 
the  gulf  between  capital  and  labor  was  widened  by  their  har- 
angues. It  deepened  and  intensified  class  antagonism,  and  made 
of  the  two  cooperative  forces  irreconcilable  foes. 

One  of  the  necessary  results  of  an  industrial  conflict  is  that 
attention  is  concentrated  on  the  materialistic  side  of  life.  For 
weeks  the  one  dominating  subject  which  swayed  the  hearts  of 
these  thousands  was  the  strike.  The  labor  agitator  was  the 
man  of  the  hour.  All  other  interests  were  swept  away  as  by  an 
on-rushing  flood,  and  the  whole  life  of  the  mine  employes  was 
taken  up  by  mass  meetings,  union  meetings,  parades  and  pro- 
cessions. On  the  street,  in  the  home,  at  work  and  in  the 
saloons,  there  was  but  one  topic  of  conversation — the  conflict 
between  capital  and  labor.  Any  attempt  to  lead  their  minds  in 
another  channel  was  useless.  The  heart  and  mind  of  the  an- 
thracite mining  communities  revolved  around  this  one  topic — 
their  material  welfare.  It  necessarily  followed  that  religious 
or  ethical  influences  lost  their  grip  on  the  life  of  the  people. 
For  weeks  and  months,  the  thousands  of  employes  constituting 
the  anthracite  mining  communities  lived  in  an  atmosphere 
charged  with  class  antagonism  and  the  sense  of  accumulated 
wrongs.  This  must  necessarily  influence  the  entire  life  of  the 
people.  The  moral  tone  of  the  communities  is  weakened ;  the 
power  of  religion  over  the  life  of  the  family  is  diminished. 


STRIKES.  191 

To  this  we  must  add  the  passions  which  stirred  the  hearts  of 
men  against  their  fellows.  In  every  community  there  is  a 
class  of  men  on  the  side  of  the  employers,  against  whom  the 
workingmen  cherish  sentiments  of  jealousy  and  suspicion,  if 
not  of  positive  hatred.  Few  open  conflicts  occurred  in  the  late 
strike,  but  everywhere  angry  passions  raged,  and  the  flame  of 
hatred  then  kindled  will  continue  to  burn  for  many  a  day. 
Men  bear  in  their  bodies  the  marks  of  that  conflict,  while 
others  were  stigmatized  with  vile  epithets  which  they  will  carry 
to  their  graves.  This  burning  rancor  will  exercise  an  abiding 
influence  on  the  religious,  political,  industrial  and  social  life  of 
the  communities.  Resentment  makes  the  men  uncompromis- 
ing enemies,  and  they  ever  watch  their  opportunity  to  "  do  " 
their  opponents.  This  mars  the  peace  of  towns,  creates  friction, 
destroys  business  and  frustrates  reforms. 

The  pecuniary  loss  from  strikes  is  great,  but  that  is  limited 
and  can  be  made  good ;  the  loss  in  moral  sympathy  and  social 
harmony  perpetuates  itself  and  its  miasmatic  effect  lingers  on 
for  a  generation. 


CHAPTER  X. 

UNIONISM. 

1.   THE  UNITED  MINE  WORKERS'   ORGANIZATION.     2.   THE  ORGANIZER. 
3.  THE  EFFECTS  OF  UNIONISM.     4.  THE  LIMITS  OF  UNIONISM. 


In  the  preceding  chapter,  we  mentioned  various  attempts 
made  to  organize  the  mine  workmen  of  the  anthracite  coal 
fields.  Every  strike  of  any  importance  in  the  history  of  the 
anthracite  coal  industry  is  associated  with  a  labor  organization. 
The  only  exception  is  the  strike  of  1877.  That,  however,  can- 
not be  properly  called  a  strike ;  it"  was  more  a  contagion  and 
limited  to  a  section  of  the  Northern  coal  field.  The  miners 
were  forced  to  idleness  because  of  the  great  railroad  strike. 
They  inen  venttSSf^SB^rre^iuues  ami  demanded  ceitain 
rights,  because  that  was  the  order  of  the  day.  They  failed  in 
every  particular,  for  there  was  no  organization  among  the  men 
to  enforce  their  claims. 

The  prominent  labor  organizations  in  the  anthracite  regions 
for  the  last  fifty  years  have  been  : 

1.  The  Bates  Union  of  1848-1850,  which  as  far  as  we  have 
been  abltf  to  learn,  contained  about  5,000  members. 

2.  The  Workingmen's  Benevolent  Association  chartered  in 
1868  and  dissolved  in  a  piecemeal  fashion  from  the  year  1871 
to  1875.     In  the  days  of  its  glory  its  membership  was  30,000, 
or  about  85  per  cent,  of  the  total  number  of  employes. 

3.  The  Miners  and  Laborers  Amalgamated  Association  and 
the  Knights  of  Labor  from  the  year  1884  to  1888.      Both 
organizations  combined  in  1887  and  comprised  a  membership 
of  about  40,000.     The  sphere  of  operation  of  the  combined 
societies  was  largely  the  Middle  and  Southern  coal  fields. 

192 


UNIONISM.  193 

4.  The  present  United  Mine  Workers  of  America,  which 
began  organizing  the  anthracite  coal  employes  in  1897,  and 
which  to-day  includes  in  its  membership  from  90  to  95  per 
cent,  of  the  mine  workers  of  northeastern  Pennsylvania. 

Other  organizations  have  been  introduced,  but  they  did  not 
take  root.  In  1874,  the  Miners'  National  Organization  of 
Ohio  sought  to  secure  a  foothold  in  the  Wyoming  Valley,  but 
did  not  succeed  in  enlisting  the  support  of  the  miners.  In  1864, 
there  was  a  miners'  union  of  considerable  local  influence  at 
Locust  Gap,  but  it  does  not  seem  to  have  extended  its  power 
beyond  that  territory.  From  1860  to  1876  the  Mollie  Maguires 
were  active,  but  they  cannot  be  said  to  have  been  a  labor  or- 
ganization ;  they  were  rather  a  coterie  of  lawless  intimidators 
who  sought  political  power  and  prestige  by  terrorism. 

In  the  Northern  coal  field,  all  attempts  at  unionism  failed 
after  the  great  struggle  of  1871,  until  this  present  effort.  The 
United  Mine  Workers'  organizers  found  greater  readiness  to 
receive  them  in  the  Northern  field  than  in  the  Middle  and 
Southern.  Since  the  labor  trials  of  1871  and  1877  a  new 
generation  of  mine  workmen  had  grown  up  in  the  Wyoming 
and  Lackawanna  Valleys,  who,  together  with  the  Sclavs,  formed 
the  rank  and  file  of  the  present  organization  before  the  strike 
of  last  fall.  The  successful  issue  of  that  conflict  increased  the 
prestige  of  the  union  greatly,  and  swept  away  all  opposition. 
It  is  now  supreme  everywhere  in  the  anthracite  collieries,  and 
the  spirit  of  unionism  dominates  every  where  among  the  140,000 
employes  in  the  anthracite  coal  industry.  The  object  of  the 
present  chapter  is  to  describe  this  labor  organization  as  to  its 
nature,  its  mode  of  propagation,  its  effect  upon  the  mine 
workers,  and  the  possible  scope  of  its  activity. 

THE    UNITED    MINE   WORKERS'    ORGANIZATION. 

It  has  long  been  observed  that  human  history  moves  in 
cycles.  The  experience  of  one  generation  is  repeated  by  a  sub- 
sequent one.  When  we  remember  that  the  average  life  of  a 
generation  in  mining  communities,  under  such  conditions  as 
have  prevailed  in  the  anthracite  coal  fields  for  the  last  fifty 
13 


194  THE   ANTHRACITE   COAL   INDUSTRY. 

years,  does  not  exceed  fifteen  years,  we  see  that  every  labor  or- 
ganization which  has  succeeded  in  gaining  a  foothold  in  this 
territory  has  been  planted  in  new  soil.  That  was  preeminently 
the  case  with  the  United  Mine  Workers'  organization.  In 
1896  attempts  were  made  in  the  neighborhood  of  Potts ville  by 
a  member  of  the  U.  M.  W.,  to  organize  the  miners,  but  after  a 
year's  effort  not  5  per  cent,  of  the  Schuylkill  men  were  in  the 
union.  In  February,  1897,  a  local  union  was  organized  in 
Hazleton,  but  here  it  did  not  meet  with  the  success  the  organ- 
izer anticipated.  The  memories  of  1887  and  1888  were  fresh 
in  the  minds  of  men,  and  labor  organization  was  synonymous 
with  labor  disputes,  strikes  and  suspensions.  In  March,  1899, 
an  organizer  was  sent  into  the  Wyoming  Valley  and  within  a 
few  months  50  per  cent,  of  the  employes  had  been  enrolled. 
The  men  who  knew  nothing  of  the  trials  of  the  seventies 
flocked  into  the  organization.  They  had  heard  their  fathers 
speak  of  past  efforts,  but  they  believed  they  could  do  better 
and  soon  the  United  Mine  Workers  was  a  power  which  made 
itself  felt  in  the  discussion  of  labor  disputes  in  the  Northern 
coal  field.  By  the  summer  of  1900,  65  per  cent,  of  the  Wyo- 
ming, 15  per  cent,  of  the  Hazleton  and  25  per  cent,  of  the 
Schuylkill  mine  employes  were  members  of  the  union.  Dur- 
ing and  after  the  strike,  the  work  of  organization  was  vigor- 
ously prosecuted,  so  that  by  the  beginning  of  the  current  year 
about  85  per  cent,  of  the  employes  in  and  around  the  mines 
were  members  of  the  anthracite  branch  of  the  United  Mine 
Workers  of  America.  The  organization  comprises  not  only  the 
mine  workmen,  but  also  the  majority  of  engineers,  firemen, 
blacksmiths  and  machinists  connected  with  the  mines.  This 
combination  is  deemed  expedient  for  the  reason  that  any  dis- 
pute between  these  classes  of  workmen  and  the  employers  may 
precipitate  a  strike,  when  the  miners  would  have  no  grievance. 
To  avoid  any  such  conflict  of  interests,  all  the  employes  in  and 
around  the  mines  are  in  one  organization. 

The  organization  is  modelled  on  democratic  principles.  It 
is  an  organism  formed  of  a  series  of  concentric  circles  culmi- 
nating in  the  National  Executive  Board,  whose  chairman  is  the 


UNIONISM.  195 

president  of  the  national  organization.  The  president  receives 
$1,500  a  year  salary  and  travelling  expenses;  the  secretary  and 
treasurer  $1,300  and  expenses ;  the  other  members  of  the  board 
get  $3.00  a  day  and  expenses.  The  national  organization  has 
from  25  to  30  men  in  the  field,  each  of  whom  gets  $70  a  month 
and  expenses. 

Each  local  union  is  a  perfect  organism  and  has  complete 
autonomy  in  affairs  pertaining  to  its  members.  It  has  its  own 
constitution  and  by-laws,  can  regulate  its  own  entrance  fees 
and  dues,  elect  its  own  officers  and  discipline  its  members. 

The  local  unions  are  affiliated  into  districts.  Each  district 
has  its  own  constitution  and  by-laws  and  the  regular  staff  of 
officers.  The  president  of  each  district  receives  $75.00  a  month 
and  expenses.  The  district  secretary  receives  $70.00  a  month 
and  expenses.  The  districts  put  agents  in  the  field,  whose  duty 
it  is  to  organize  new  local  unions  and  keep  the  existing  mem- 
bers in  line.  These  get  $3.00  a  day  and  expenses.  They, 
with  the  officers  of  the  district,  form  the  executive  board,  before 
which  any  matter  that  cannot  be  settled  by  the  executive  com- 
mittee of  the  local  union  is  brought ;  and  if  the  district  execu- 
tive committee  cannot  settle  it,  then  it  goes  before  the  executive 
board  of  the  national  organization. 

The  local  union  is  organized  by  one  of  the  field  agents.  Those 
who  sign  the  application  for  a  charter  become  charter  members 
and  pay  an  initiation  fee  of  25  cents.  The  charter  and  certain 
supplies  necessary  for  the  workings  of  the  local  union  are  sup- 
plied from  headquarters  for  $15.00.  After  the  enrollment  of 
the  members,  they  are  all  solemnly  sworn  to  abide  by  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  order,  to  implicitly  follow  its  instructions,  and 
never  divulge  its  secrets.  Then  officers  are  elected  and  the 
password  and  sign  given  to  each  member.  Anyone  wishing  to 
join  after  the  local  union  is  organized,  must  sign  a  blank  form 
and  be  recommended  by  one  of  the  members  of  that  union. 
The  entrance  fee  is  from  $1.00  to  $3.00,  according  to  the 
decision  of  the  members.  The  monthly  dues  are  25  cents, 
which  is  divided  as  follows  :  10  cents  to  the  national  organiza- 
tion, 5  cents  to  the  district  association,  and  10  cents  for  local 


196  THE   ANTHRACITE    COAL   INDUSTRY. 

purposes.  The  secretary  and  treasurer  of  the  local  union  get 
from  50  cents  to  $1.00  a  night,  according  to  the  amount  of  work 
they  have  to  perform.  Members  appointed  on  committees  or 
delegated  to  conventions  get  from  $2.50  to  $3.00  a  day  and 
expenses.  Each  local  union  has  its  executive  committee  and 
grievance  committee.  Provision  is  made  to  place  on  each 
member  an  assessment  of  25  cents  a  month  in  case  of  a  strike 
in  any  part  of  the  territory  covered  by  the  national  organiza- 
tion, provided  the  strikers  are  in  need  of  help. 

No  strike  can  be  declared  in  any  colliery  unless  endorsed  by 
the  executive  board  of  both  the  district  and  the  national  organi- 
zation. If  it  is  otherwise  declared,  the  union  will  not  recognize 
it,  however  just  the  cause  may  be. 

This,  in  brief  outline,  is  the  organization  which  now  takes  in 
all  the  anthracite  coal  fields,  and  affords  to  the  various  nation- 
alities excellent  practice  in  self-government  and  discipline. 
All  classes  of  men  seem  to  be  eligible  as  members  of  the  or- 
ganization save  those  who  sell  or  manufacture  intoxicating 
drinks,  lawyers,  bankers,  gamblers  and  stock-brokers.  Fore- 
men are  also  barred  out.  It  is  generally  the  rule  that  those 
working  in  the  same  shaft  form  one  local  union.  This,  how- 
ever, has  not  always  been  the  case.  In  the  early  days  of  the 
organization  a  local  union  might  comprise  all  the  mine  workers 
in  a  village,  though  they  worked  in  different  collieries.  In 
some  localities  the  Sclavs  were  granted  the  privilege  of  having 
a  distinct  organization  from  that  of  the  English-speaking  em- 
ployes. When  this  was  the  case  the  separate  locals  invariably 
had  conferences  and  acted  conjointly  in  any  important  move- 
ment. The  rule  now  is,  however,  that  each  colliery  has  a  local 
union  of  its  own  with  a  grievance  committee  which  confers 
with  the  foreman  in  case  of  a  grievance  presented  by  any  of 
the  men  in  the  colliery. 

John  Graham  Brooks,  when  he  studied  the  Lattimer  riots  of 
1896,  found  on  the  Hazleton  Mountain  over  a  dozen  nationali- 
ties. He  expressed  the  conviction  that  it  was  a  hopeless  task 
to  attempt  to  form  these  into  a  labor  organization.  Paul  de  Hosi- 
ers, in  his  essay  on  "  Les  Tentatives  de  Monopolisation  de  L?  An- 


UNIONISM.  197 

thracite,"  expressed  a  similar  opinion.  He  compared  the  present 
personnel  of  anthracite  employes,  "  largely  composed  of  Poland- 
ers,  Hungarians  and  Lithuanians,  who  are  turbulent  and  in- 
capable of  being  advantageously  formed  into  an  association/' 
with  the  Americans,  Germans  and  English  of  1868,  who  so 
successfully  organized  the  Workingmen's  Benevolent  Associa- 
tion, and  believed  they  could  not  be  successfully  organized  into 
a  labor  organization.  Both  eminent  men  have  proved  to  be 
false  prophets.  The  stanchest  members  of  the  union  are  the 
Sclavs,  and  the  organizers  of  the  United  Mine  Workers  of 
America  have  successfully  overcome  racial  differences,  national 
antipathies  and  industrial  prejudices,  and  formed  into  one  body 
the  fifteen  or  sixteen  nationalities  now  constituting  the  anthracite 
mining  communities.  It  was  possible  because  gross  abuses 
needed  correction  and  low  wages  needed  an  advance.  These 
were  the  powers  which  made  of  all  nationalities  one  common 
brotherhood,  pledged  to  correct  the  one  and  raise  the  other. 

THE   ORGANIZER. 

The  men  who  have  accomplished  this  marvelous  feat  are 
from  the  ranks  of  miners.  All  of  them  handled  the  pick  and 
shovel  before  they  were  delegated  by  their  fellow-workmen  to 
the  work  of  organizing  local  unions  throughout  the  coal  fields. 
They  are  not  educated  and  have  never  been  trained  in  the  art 
of  oratory ;  and  yet  many  of  them  are  orators,  if  we  judge 
them  by  the  effect  of  their  addresses.  Their  style  has  force 
but  no  elegance;  they  know  the  way  to  the  hearts  of  their 
audience  but  could  not  analyze  the  process ;  they  know  their 
subject  and  present  it  in  a  form  which  every  miner  understands. 
When  they  speak,  conventionalities  are  laid  aside,  they  have 
one  goal  to  reach,  and  for  that  they  make  with  all  the  powers 
at  their  command,  and  invariably  they  reach  the  mark  before 
they  are  through.  They  are  earnest  men  in  the  common  walks 
of  life,  speaking  of  a  subject  they  know  from  practical  expe- 
rience, and  addressing  men  whom  they  know — for  they  are  of 
their  kith  and  kin.  They  are  genial,  frank,  and  flippant,  and 
are  boon  companions  when  they  fall  in  with  good  cheer  and 


198  THE   ANTHRACITE   COAL   INDUSTRY. 

jovial  fellowship.  They  know  the  power  of  a  social  glass  and 
are  not  above  an  occasional  quarrel  and  tussel  over  it.  They 
have  strong  social  qualities  and  can  make  friends  and  keep 
them.  In  the  work  of  organizing  the  Sclavs,  men  of  that 
nationality  are  assigned  to  the  work.  The  English-speaking 
organizers  also  attend  the  meetings  of  Huns,  Poles,  etc.,  when 
interpreters  are  used  to  convey  their  thoughts  to  the  audience. 
These  are  the  men  who  organized  the  anthracite  coal  employes 
in  the  years  1897-1901  and  still  preserve  the  organization  in 
its  integrity. 

In  the  discharge  of  their  duties  as  organizers  their  one  aim 
is  to  get  an  audience.  Time  and  place  are  secondary  consid- 
erations. The  weather  has  very  little  effect  upon  these  men. 
Give  them  an  audience  and  they  will  stand  the  pelting  rain 
or  the  broiling  sun  to  convey  to  wage  earners  the  message  they 
have  to  give.  They  address  men  early  in  the  morning  or  late 
at  night.  They  stand  to  deliver  their  message  on  the  vacant 
lot,  or  the  open  field,  or  the  public  square,  or  the  street  corner, 
or  the  head  of  the  shaft,  when  the  miners  come  home  in  their 
squalid  garments.  Anywhere,  only  give  them  the  men  to 
hear.  Last  summer  when  the  thermometer  was  in  the  nineties, 
we  heard  one  of  them  talking  for  an  hour  in  a  public  hall, 
crowded  to  the  door.  There  the  speaker  stood  on  the  plat- 
form without  coat  or  vest,  without  collar  or  tie,  with  his 
shirt  sleeves  open  which  he  occasionally  tucked  up,  but  which 
again  fell  because  of  the  vehemence  of  his  gestures,  and 
again  they  were  rolled  up.  The  audience  was  sweltering ;  the 
speaker  was  in  a  bath  of  perspiration,  but  he  clung  to  his 
theme  and  interested  his  audience.  Occasionally  he  received  a 
responsive  confirmation  from  some  one  of  the  miners,  and  at 
times  was  greeted  with  rounds  of  applause.  Many  prevailing 
wrongs  and  economic  conditions  which  pressed  hard  upon  the 
lives  of  men  gave  the  agitator  his  opportunity,  and  well  did  he 
use  it  to  bring  into  existence  the  organization  which  precipitated 
the  strike  of  last  fall. 

All  the  organizers  are  not  on  a  par.  Some  of  them  are  ex- 
travagant and  unreasonable,  and  in  their  addresses  pass  beyond 


UNIONISM.  199 

all  bounds.  That  class  has  little  influence  with  the  miners.  No 
class  of  men  are  better  judges  of  practical  common  sense  than 
these  people,  and  the  men  who  wield  greatest  power  over  them 
are  those  who  abide  by  the  facts  and  reason  along  the  line  of 
economic  justice.  We  heard  some  describing  their  opponents 
as  "  robbers,  scoundrels,  blood-suckers  and  villains,  who  ought 
to  be  behind  prison  bars/7  but  their  words  fell  flat.  Others 
said  that  labor  produced  all  the  capital  which  existed,  and  that 
the  miners  actually  owned  the  United  States  and  had  the  power 
to  paralyze  all  industries.  There  was  no  response  in  the 
audience  to  such  statements,  for  the  miners  did  not  believe 
them.  No  organization  can  be  built  up  on  wind,  much  less  on 
exaggeration  and  falsehood.  It  is  important  to  know  what 
is  the  teaching  of  these  men,  which  they  infuse  into  the  minds 
of  the  140,000  mine  employes  of  northeastern  Pennsylvania. 
They  also  influence  a  mining  population  of  nearly  half  a 
million  in  the  United  States,  and  their  teachings  reflect  the 
thoughts  and  ideas  of  the  working  classes,  which,  if  erroneous, 
deserve  attention  that  they  may  be  corrected ;  or  if  true,  that 
they  may  be  incorporated  into  the  framework  of  society.  To 
give  an  idea  of  their  teaching,  we  subjoin  the  substance  of  the 
best  address  we  heard  in  the  summer  of  1900,  delivered  by  one 
of  the  most  successful  organizers  in  the  anthracite  coal  fields. 

The  organizer  spoke  in  the  open  air  and  argued  his  case  for 
an  hour.  As  he  became  heated  to  his  subject,  he  threw  off  his 
coat,  took  off  his  collar  and  cuffs  and  tucked  up  his  sleeves. 
None  of  the  audience  left  until  he  was  through,  though  the 
weather  was  hot.  The  substance  of  his  address  was  : 

"  The  employes  of  the  anthracite  coal  fields  are  in  a  deplorable 
condition.  We  are  not  here,  however,  to  curse'  the  employers. 
They  take  every  dollar  they  can  get  and  we  do  the  very  same. 
What  we  want  is  the  share  that  rightly  belongs  to  us,  and  if 
we  do  not  get  it  then  we  ourselves  are  to  be  blamed.  Wages 
could  be  advanced  and  conditions  improved  at  the  present 
prices  of  coal,  but  the  employers  won't  do  it  unless  they  are 
compelled.  All  they  ask  is  how  many  dollars  they  can  get  out  of 
it.  They  do  not  concern  themselves  about  your  wives  and  chil- 


200  THE   ANTHRACITE   COAL    INDUSTRY. 

dren.  You  must  look  after  your  own  interests.  The  anthracite 
coal  operators  form  a  combination,  and  they  have  tried  to  teach 
you  to  combine.  Many  condemn  trusts,  etc.;  we  should  not. 
We  should  organize  in  order  that  combined  labor  may  do  busi- 
ness with  combined  capital.  The  140,000  employes  in  the 
anthracite  coal  fields  have  done  business  with  the  corporation  as 
individuals,  and  they  are  crushed.  If  combination  is  good  for 
capital  it  is  good  for  labor.  Ask  concessions  now  and  they  are 
refused,  for  the  reason  that, you  have  no  organization  to  enforce 
your  claims.  Organize,  and  they  will  be  compelled  to  hand 
over  the  dollars  that  belong  to  you. 

"  Men  will  shout  for  freedom  in  the  next  campaign,  but  here 
there  is  tyranny  worse  than  ever  existed  in  Europe.  Anthra- 
cite coal  miners  don't  know  what  is  freedom.  They  are  dic- 
tated to  by  bosses  and  are  not  conscious  of  the  freedom  they 
might  enjoy  in  this  country.  Carry  your  freedom  into  labor 
organizations,  for  it  is  your  right  to  organize. 
.  "  The  conditions  of  the  men  of  to-day  determine  those  of  the 
rising  generation.  Your  children  are  in  the  breakers  and  mills 
because  you  do  not  get  your  rights.  These  little  ones  will  curse 
their  parents.  You  cannot  give  the  protection  to  your  wife 
that  she  deserves.  Organize  and  your  right  will  be  respected. 

"  Miners  say  the  operators  whipped  us  in  the  past.  Yes,  and 
it  was  due  to  lack  of  confidence  in  each  other  on  the  part  of 
the  workingmen.  Because  you  have  no  organization,  evils 
have  piled  up  high  in  the  last  fifteen  years,  and  it  will  take 
time  to  remedy  them.  The  old  W.  B.  A.  failed  because  it  did 
not  do  business  in  a  business-like  manner.  The  miners  did  not 
come  out  together.  In  1887  the  Knights  of  Labor  precipitated 
a  conflict  to  their  sorrow.  Men  struck  in  the  Lehigh  region 
and  came  to  the  Wyoming  Valley  to  work  for  less  wages.  Our 
organization  must  embrace  all  miners. 

"  Miners  have  a  right  to  put  a  price  on  their  labor  for  it  is 
their  capital.  The  selling  price  of  coal  should  not  govern 
wages,  but  wages  should  govern  the  selling  price  of  coal.  Our 
only  hope  to  remedy  prevailing  abuses  is  by  organization,  then 
we  will  get  our  rights  and  see  that  the  mining  laws  of  the  State 
are  enforced." 


UNIONISM.  201 

Four  points  were  prominent  in  the  address.  The  speaker 
made  correct  and  effective  use  of  the  history  of  unionism  in  the 
coal  fields.  The  rocks  upon  which  the  unions  were  wrecked 
were  lack  of  confidence  and  united  action.  He  was  also  right 
in  affirming  that  labor  had  a  right  to  combine  and  enter  into 
collective  bargaining  with  capital.  Joseph  S.  Harris,  in  1896 
(Forum,  Vol.  13),  said :  "Business  operations  should  rest  on 
organization,  cooperation  and  reasonable  consideration  for  the 
property  of  others.  In  other  words,  it  is  beginning  to  be  recog- 
nized that  industrial  warfare  is  no  better  regulator  of  business 
than  private  warfare  is  of  social  intercourse  .  .  .  this  failing  has 
led  to  the  organization  of  labor  on  the  one  hand  and  to  the  or- 
ganization of  capital  on  the  other  .  .  .  both  will  be  right  when 
they  learn  that  they  are  forces  which  must  work  in  harmony  to 
carry  out  the  ancient  command  to  subdue  and  replenish  the 
earth/7  It  is  interesting  to  notice  also  that  the  editor  of  the 
Nation  in  1871  said  of  the  anthracite  coal  operators:  "They 
never  once  raised  the  wages  of  their  own  accord.  In  every 
instance  they  compelled  the  men  to  strike  or  to  threaten  a 
strike  before  they  yielded  the  advance.  .  .  .  The  fact  is  that 
no  advance  was  yielded  by  them  except  upon  compulsion." 
Dr.  Virtue,  in  his  article  on  the  Anthracite  Coal  Workers  in 
the  Bulletin  of  the  Department  of  Labor  for  1897,  suggests  the 
same  idea.  During  the  twenty  years,  from  1880  to  1900,  no 
labor  organization  existed  in  the  Wyoming  coal  field,  and  no 
advance  in  wages  occurred.  All  this  seems  to  confirm  the 
speaker's  statement  that  the  operators  will  only  raise  the  wages 
of  employes  under  compulsion.  And  yet  it  would  be  the 
gravest  fallacy  to  imagine  that  labor  organization  can  raise 
wages  without  limit.  Production  is  limited,  and  there  is  a 
point  beyond  which  the  demands  of  labor  cannot  go ;  if  laborers 
can  discern  that  point  and  come  as  near  it  as  is  safe,  they  will 
be  able  to  get  the  share  due  them.  The  proposition  that  wages 
ought  to  govern  prices  is  open  to  grave  question.  Those  who 
sell  anthracite  know  that  they  cannot  raise  prices  as  they  will, 
for  the  man  at  the  other  end  of  the  bargain  has  something  to 
say  in  the  matter.  William  Jaspar  Nicolls,  in  his  work  on 


202  THE   ANTHKACITE   COAL   INDUSTRY. 

"  American  Coals,"  says,  "  Anthracite  coal  is  no  more  a  neces- 
sity of  life  than  is  young  hickory  wood,  and  its  price  for  domestic 
use  can  be  raised  just  to  the  point  where  people  won't  use  it  and 
no  higher.  .  .  .  When  we  read  of  the  strenuous  exertions  made 
by  the  use  of  every  inducement,  including  bribery,  to  force  the 
use  of  anthracite  coal  upon  the  public,  it  does  not  seem  a  formi- 
dable undertaking  for  the  public  to  return  again  to  the  use  of 
bituminous  coal  as  they  did  in  former  years  "  (p.  290). 

The  operators  are  uncompromisingly  hostile  to  the  forma- 
tions of  unions ;  they  have  their  agents  busily  sowing  tares 
among  the  wheat.  In  each  local  there  are  spies  who  report  to 
the  foremen  all  the  business  transacted.  Some  companies  are 
more  hostile  than  others  to  unionism.  A  brave  attempt  was 
made  by  the  officials  of  the  Delaware,  Lackawanna  and  Western 
last  summer  to  organize  their  men  into  a  separate  union,  and 
thus  divide  the  ranks  of  labor.  The  effort  miserably  failed. 
Fire-bosses,  driver-bosses,  loader-bosses,  etc.,  were  members  of 
the  union,  but  in  July  last  orders  were  issued  by  operators  that 
they  must  quit  work  or  quit  the  union,  for  they  could  not  serve 
two  masters.  The  Reading  Co.  has  given  very  liberal  conces- 
sions to  its  workmen.  It  was  the  first  to  offer  10  per  cent,  ad- 
vance to  its  employes  on  the  September  wages,  which  were  6 
per  cent,  above  the  basis ;  and  so  actually  giving  an  advance 
of  16  per  cent.  It  also  restored  the  old  prices  paid  for  timber- 
ing. These  concessions  have  been  interpreted  by  the  leaders 
of  the  union  as  efforts  to  induce  their  employes  to  forsake  the 
organization.  Efforts  have  been  made  to  frustrate  the  progress 
of  the  United  Mine  Workers  on  lines  of  political  bias  and 
religious  antipathy,  which  took  very  ludicrous  forms.  The 
secrecy  imposed  on  all  the  members,  as  well  as  the  ceremony 
of  initiation  in  the  order,  were  solemnly  believed  by  some  to  be 
a  cunning  devise  to  restore  the  temporal  power  of  the  Papacy. 
The  efforts  of  the  operators  and  their  partisans  were  in  vain. 
Onward  marched  unionism  as  a  mighty  army,  so  that  every 
colliery  is  under  its  control,  and  well-nigh  every  mining  em- 
ploye whom  the  union  wishes  to  bring  under  its  power  must  fall 
in  line. 


UNIONISM.  203 

THE    EFFECTS    OF    UNIONISM. 

The  Reading  reduced  the  price  of  powder  in  1888  when  the 
Knights  of  Labor  dominated  in  Schuylkill  county.  The  price 
of  powder  elsewhere  was  reduced  when  the  United  Mine 
Workers  demanded  it.  During  the  years  1880  to  1900,  many 
wrongs  had  accumulated,  due,  not  so  much  to  the  egoism  of 
operators,  as  to  the  officialism  of  petty  bosses  in  and  around  the 
mines.  These  have  almost  wholly  disappeared.  The  abuses 
practised  by  company  stores  have  largely  sought  a  hiding  place. 
And,  as  in  the  reign  of  the  Workingmen's  Benevolent  Associa- 
tion from  1868  to  1875  the  power  of  large  corporations  was  en- 
hanced by  the  spirit  of  unionism  among  the  employes,  so  it  is 
to-day.  The  small  percentage  of  individual  operators  are  being 
bought  out,  and  the  whole  of  the  anthracite  industry  is  passing 
into  the  control  of  a  few  hands. 

The  spirit  of  unionism  among  the  employes  brings  about 
many  strange  and  inconsistent  actions.  Men  who  insist  upon 
individual  rights  and  personal  liberty  are  the  least  tolerant  of 
these  rights  when  governed  by  the  union.  One  of  the  aims  of 
the  organization  is  to  promote  peace  and  order,  and  yet  many 
acts  are  done  by  its  members  which  disturb  the  peace  of  society. 
When  a  member  of  the  Thirteenth  Regiment  secured  work  in 
one  of  the  collieries  of  Lackawanna  county  a  committee  of  the 
local  union  asked  the  foreman  to  dismiss  him.  He  refused  to 
do  so  and  the  employes  went  on  strike.  If  a  miner  will  not 
join  the  union  the  driver  will  not  give  him  cars.  Last  Decem- 
ber, a  small  boy,  not  fifteen  years  of  age,  driying  in  one  of  the 
collieries  of  the  Northern  field  delivered  a  car  to  an  elderly 
man,  old  enough  to  be  his  grandfather,  and  told  him,  "  You  put 
your  tools  in  that  and  get  out  for  you  won't  get  no  more  cars." 
The  miner  appealed  to  the  foreman.  The  latter  went  to  the 
boy  and  ordered  him  to  drive  cars  to  the  chamber  in  question ; 
he  told  him  he  would  not  do  it.  The  foreman  told  the  child, 
"You  had  better  take  my  tape  and  book,  for  you  seem  to 
run  this  shaft."  That  child  was  the  hero  of  the  hour.  Five 
driver-boys,  from  the  age  of  15  to  18  years,  in  another  shaft, 
had  wage  grievances  not  involving,  all  told,  more  than  fifty 


204  THE   ANTHRACITE    COAL    INDUSTRY. 

cents  a  day.  Without  a  word  of  warning  to  their  parents,  or  a 
single  attempt  at  adjusting  their  grievance  by  seeing  the  fore- 
man or  superintendent,  they  declared  a  strike.  The  employes 
lost  by  it  over  $30,000  in  wages,  and  the  boys  were  referred  to 
in  mass  meetings  as  examples  to  their  fathers  in  "  manhood, 
courage  and  liberty."  A  father  and  son  worked  at  a  washery 
during  the  strike.  When  resumption  came,  the  employes  of 
that  colliery  would  not  begin  work  until  the  father  and  son 
were  discharged.  The  foreman  had  to  do  it.  The  offenders 
had  to  appeal  to  the  local  union  for  membership  as  the  only 
condition  of  securing  work.  They  were  admitted  by  paying 
an  entrance  fee  of  $15.  The  regular  fee  was  $1  a  member. 
Miners  often  have  two  and  three  laborers  to  work  for  them,  but 
when  a  miner  takes  a  contract  which  enables  him  to  hire  miners 
and  laborers  he  is  disqualified  as  a  member  of  the  union, 
although  he  pays  the  standard  wage  in  the  colliery  to  the  men 
he  hires.  During  the  last  strike  some  of  the  miners  were 
sworn  in  as  deputies  by  the  companies  to  guard  their  property. 
These  men  are  now  members  of  the  union,  but  they  are  closely 
watched  and  suspected  of  being  spies  in  behalf  of  the  operators. 
Instances  of  the  spirit  of  unionism  often  met  with  are  more 
ludicrous  than  serious.  Four  boarders  left  a  boarding  house  at 
the  same  time,  saying,  "  They  weren't  going  to  board  with  no 
scab  boarding  boss."  A  butcher  wagon  in  its  rounds  stopped 
to  sell  meat  at  the  door  of  a  non-union  man.  Some  of  the 
union  men  told  the  butcher,  "  If  you  sell  to  him  you  can't  to 
us."  A  miner  sat  in  a  barber's  chair  being  lathered  for  a 
shave.  Six  union  men  entered  and  took  their  seats.  They 
identified  the  man  in  the  chair  as  one  of  the  non-union  men. 
As  the  barber  was  about  to  apply  the  razor,  one  of  the  men 
said,  "  If  you  shave  that  man  you  don't  shave  us."  The  man 
had  to  vacate  the  chair  unshaved.  A  storekeeper  insisted  on 
his  personal  liberty,  which  finds  so  large  a  place  in  the  addresses 
of  the  labor  leaders,  and  declared  he  would  not  discharge  clerks 
who  were  not  union  men.  Half-a-dozen  men  visited  his  store, 
made  their  purchases,  and  then  asked  the  clerk  to  show  his 
union  card.  He  could  not.  The  men  left  the  goods  on  the 


UNIONISM.  205 

counter.  That  invariably  makes  the  storekeeper  less  pro- 
nounced in  his  personal  liberty  claims.  The  spirit  of  unionism 
is  everywhere.  All  classes  of  labor  which  can  be  organized  are 
formed  into  unions.  It  is  the  fashion  of  the  day  to  be  one  of 
the  union,  and  if  you  are  not,  the  boycott  falls  on  you. 

Possibly  the  most  dangerous  element  of  the  anthracite  popu- 
lation dominated  by  this  spirit  are  the  lower  classes  of  Sclavs 
and  the  Italians.  English-speaking  mine-workmen  have  some 
respect  for  personal  rights,  even  when  unionism  appears  in  its 
most  rampant  form,  but  some  Sclavs  and  Italians  pass  beyond 
all  restraint.  The  workingmen  in  a  shaft  in  Lackawanna 
county  held  a  meeting  to  discuss  the  situation  on  September 
8th,  ten  days  before  the  strike  was  ordered.  The  "  foreigners  " 
said  "  strike  now  "  ;  the  English-speaking  element,  which  was 
in  the  minority,  argued  that  there  was  no  order  issued,  and 
tried  to  persuade  them  to  keep  at  work  until  the  order  came. 
The  question  was  decided  by  an  Italian  swinging  a  revolver 
around  his  head  and  shouting  "  Strike,  strike."  The  shaft  was 
shut  down  a  week  before  the  general  strike. 

When  the  strike  was  about  to  be  declared,  a  company  of 
"  foreigners  "  visited  a  mining  town  to  purchase  firearms.  There 
were  two  hardware  stores  there  which  carried  a  stock  of  these 
goods.  They  entered  one  place  and  bought  the  implements 
and  the  other  store  lost  that  portion  of  its  stock  that  night. 
A  carpenter  on  the  first  day  of  the  strike  was  engaged  repair- 
ing a  house  as  some  of  these  men  came  along.  They  shouted, 
"  You  strike,  strike  all  over/'  and  the  prudent  man  packed  up 
his  tools  and  went  home.  In  a  shaft  in  Luzerne  county  where 
this  class  of  labor  was  in  the  majority,  the  local  union  was 
governed  by  them.  The  English-speaking  employes  were 
members  of  the  union,  but  held  different  views  from  those  of 
the  Sclavs  and  Italians.  When  the  Anglo-Saxons  expressed 
their  opinions  in  a  meeting  of  the  union  they  were  thrown  out. 
When  notices  were  posted  at  the  head  of  the  shaft,  stating  that 
work  would  be  resumed  the  following  Monday,  the  "  foreign- 
ers "  were  up  at  dawn.  Five  ways  led  to  the  mines.  On  each 
road  an  organized  troop  was  posted,  and  if  any  employes  had 


206  THE   ANTHRACITE    COAL   INDUSTRY. 

come  to  begin  work  that  morning,  there  would  have  been  blood- 
shed. In  another  shaft,  twelve  Italians,  said  to  be  members  of 
the  Mafia,  held  all  the  colliery  in  terror,  and  nothing  could  be 
done  unless  endorsed  by  them.  Anglo-Saxons  know  how  to 
slug  a  "  scab,"  but  the  "  foreigners  "  use  the  knife  and  revolver. 
In  Shenandoah,  two  of  the  business  men  signed  the  petition 
sent  to  the  Governor  of  the  State  asking  for  troops  to  protect 
life  and  property  at  the  time  of  the  riots.  The  Sclavs  boy- 
cotted them  in  a  manner  wholly  their  own.  They  organized 
themselves  in  squads,  and  stood  sentinels  before  these  business 
houses,  and  anyone  who  attempted  to  enter  was  prevented  by 
physical  force.  The  officers  arrested  some  of  the  ringleaders. 
The  crowd  instantly  gathered  and  demanded  the  release  of  the 
men,  and  the  burgess  prudently  conceded  their  demand. 

A  most  atrocious  deed  was  perpetrated  last  summer,  which 
was  by  public  opinion  attributed  to  unionism,  though  no  direct 
proof  was  ever  found.  A  non-union  Polander  had  a  cow. 
One  night  some  wretch  tied  a  stick  of  dynamite  to  its  horns 
and  blew  its  head  to  atoms.  With  such  an  element  forming 
a  large  percentage  of  the  mining  population,  there  is  every  rea- 
son to  believe  that,  should  a  conflict  develop  to  its  most  serious 
stages,  riots,  bloodshed  and  arson  would  be  the  inevitable  re- 
sult. 

While  a  strike  lasts,  the  enthusiasm  of  the  strikers  must  be 
kept  up,  and  one  of  the  means  to  this  end  is  parade  and  mass- 
meetings.  The  labor  agitator  has  his  hands  full  when  there  is 
a  strike  of  any  magnitude  going  on.  If  there  is  defection  in 
the  ranks  anywhere,  he  must  use  means  to  keep  the  men  in 
line,  and  one  of  the  most  effective  is  to  arrange  for  a  grand 
procession  with  martial  music  and  harangues.  In  the  parade, 
mottoes  are  carried  which  generally  represent  the  grievances  of 
the  men.  During  the  last  strike  among  many  other  mottoes 
carried  in  the  parade  were  the  following :  "  Do  not  handle 
washery  coal,  that  is  what  the  company  stole  from  the  miners." 
"  We  don't  live  to  strike,  but  we  strike  to  live."  "  We  want 
our  pails  filled  with  substantial  food  and  not  with  coal  baron's 
taffy."  "  Our  union  must  be  recognized."  "  We  will  no  longer 


UNIONISM.  207 

be  slaves."  "  We  need  school  but  must  work."  "  Save  us 
from  the  whims  of  sheriffs  and  deputies."  "  Down  with  op- 
pression ;  we  stand  by  Mitchell."  It  is  seen  from  these  that 
very  little  sentiment  of  a  truly  socialistic  type  is  found  among 
these  people.  And  it  is  a  noteworthy  fact  that  after  the  strike 
of  last  fall  the  Social  Democrats  were  not  able  to  secure  one 
per  cent,  of  the  total  vote  cast  in  Lackawanna  and  Luzerne 
counties. 

THE    LIMITS    OF   UNIONISM. 

In  a  circular  issued  June  9,  1869,  by  the  officers  of  the 
Workingmen's  Benevolent  Association,  the  object  of  the  order 
is  declared  to  be  to  reduce  production  and  advance  prices,  so 
that  the  laborer  might  get  a  "  fair  day's  wage  for  a  fair  day's 
work."  The  same  circular  contains  the  following  statement : 
"We  claim  that  we  should  receive  pay  commensurate  to  the 
said  work  and  danger  and  not  be  stinted  down  to  the  lowest 
prices  given  to  common  laborers  where  employments  are  safe 
and  free  from  the  risks  to  life,  limb  and  family."  The  object 
of  the  present  union  is  to  secure  for  the  mine  workmen  higher 
wages.  One  of  the  organizers  expressed  an  opinion  that  no 
man  going  underground  should  work  for  less  than  $3.00  a  day, 
while  miners  ought  to  get  at  least  $3.50. 

In  a  convention  held  at  Hazleton  in  1869  by  the  above-men- 
tioned labor  organization,  one  of  the  propositions  discussed  was 
"That  we  as  workmen  should  demand  20  per  cent,  of  the  pro- 
duction as  the  just  share  of  labor."  One  of  the  present  labor 
leaders  in  the  anthracite  regions  made  the  statement  that  only 
17  per  cent,  of  the  wealth  produced  to-day  was  distributed  to 
labor.  Both  these  facts  indicate  that  the  prevailing  opinion 
of  the  union  is  that  there  is  a  large  fund  of  inexhaustible 
wealth  upon  which  labor  can  draw,  and  in  order  to  effectually 
do  that,  all  that  is  necessary  is  to  combine. 

All  must  admit  that  combination  of  labor  has  had  the  effect 
of  raising  wages,  but  it  does  not  follow  that  it  can  raise  wages 
without  limit.  Even  combinations  of  labor  are  not  all-pow- 
erful, any  more  than  combinations  of  capital.  Both  are  cir- 
cumscribed by  limitations  and  these  are  determined  by  the 


208  THE   ANTHRACITE   COAL   INDUSTRY. 

service  rendered  to  society  by  the  combinations.  If  they  an- 
tagonize consumers,  they  carry  in  themselves  the  seeds  of  their 
ultimate  defeat,  no  matter  how  well  they  are  organized. 

One  of  the  essential  conditions  of  permanency  in  unionism 
is  that  the  members  sufficiently  recognize  the  fact  that  the 
amount  of  wealth  is  limited.  As  this  is  recognized  or  not,  the 
policy  of  the  organization  will  succeed  or  fail.  The  "  inexor- 
able limits  of  the  wage  fund  "  has  been  banished  from  the  field 
of  Economics,  because  it  was  false.  There  is  an  equally  falla- 
cious doctrine  too  prevalent  in  unionism,  namely,  that  there  is 
a  limitless  supply  of  wealth  produced  annually,  whereby  all 
classes  of  labor  can  be  bountifully  supplied,  regardless  of  the 
productive  efficiency  of  labor.  That  doctrine  must  be  ban- 
ished, for,  ultimately,  it  is  fatal  to  all  success.  Labor  leaders  are 
right  in  their  contention  that  the  rate  of  wages  can  be  changed 
by  united  action.  There  is  no  reason  why  wages  should  be 
left  to  the  influence  of  the  law  of  supply  and  demand,  any  more 
than  a  river  should  be  left  to  follow  its  sweet  will.  We  modify 
this  by  artificial  barriers,  and  that  can  also  be  modified.  Eco- 
nomic environment  is  largely  the  artificial  production  of  man, 
and  we  can  effect  changes  in  it  which  react  upon  the  rate  of  wages. 
But  as  there  are  limits  to  human  modifications  in  the  sphere  of 
natural  law,  so  also  there  is  a  limit  in  fixing  the  rate  of  wages 
which  labor  must  recognize.  Capitalists  are  subject  to  compe- 
tition ;  the  skill  and  management  necessary  to  successfully  con- 
duct a  large  industry  must  be  rewarded.  Society  cannot  do 
without  the  entrepreneur,  and  his  remuneration  must  be  com- 
mensurate with  his  ability. 

Capital,  if  it  is  to  stay  in  an  industry,  must  get  its  interest, 
and  there  must  also  be  recompense  for  risks,  else  the  work  of 
production  will  not  proceed.  All  these  forces  diminish  the 
part  of  production  available  for  labor  to  draw  upon. 

Under  the  capitalistic  system,  the  laborer  can  never  expect 
to  get  the  total  product  of  his  labor.  No  capitalist  will  employ 
labor  save  on  the  condition  that  he  can  make  something  out  of 
the  operation  which  he  undertakes,  that  is,  he  will  never  pay 
to  the  laborer  all  that  he  gets  out  of  the  operation.  If,  then, 


UNIONISM.  209 

the  capitalist  has  a  voice  in  determining  the  rate  of  wages ;  if 
he  will  pay  to  labor  a  price  on  which  he  thinks  he  can  make 
some  profit ;  then  it  stands  to  reason  that  the  laborer  cannot  fix 
the  rate  of  wages  to  please  himself;  or,  in  other  words,  there 
is  a  somewhat  narrow  limit  to  the  supply  of  wealth  upon  which 
combinations  of  labor  can  draw. 

Another  fallacy  closely  akin  to  the  above  is  expressed  in  the 
words  "wages  ought  to  determine  prices."  This  is  unsound 
doctrine  for  unionism  to  stand  upon,  for  the  reason  that  it  takes 
no  thought  of  the  consumer.  Social  utility  sets  its  stamp  on 
all  production  and  determines  what  the  producer  is  to  get.  The 
miners  get  food,  clothing,  shelter  and  a  thousand  other  enjoy- 
able things  as  their  wages  for  cutting  coal,  simply  because  society 
says,  "  The  fuel  you  furnish  us  is  worth  it."  But  suppose  labor 
were  to  say,  "  We  want  twice  as  much  of  these  comforts  of  life 
as  we  now  enjoy,  and  you  must  give  it  to  us  if  you  want  anthra- 
cite coal ; "  the  consumer  may,  as  Mr.  Nicolls  suggests,  go  back 
to  "  young  hickory  "  or  bituminous  coal,  and  give  the  anthracite 
miner  nothing.  If  the  laborer  insists  on  a  rate  of  wages  while 
he  does  not  render  to  society  a  service  which  the  consumer 
could  obtain  otherwise  for  less,  then  no  amount  of  combination 
will  enable  the  producer  to  enforce  his  demand.  Labor  has  the 
right  to  refuse  to  work,  and  the  consumer  has  an  equal  right  to 
refuse  to  buy.  No  doctrine  can  be  taught  labor  that  is  more 
dangerously  fallacious  than  that  wages  can  be  paid  without  an 
equivalent  efficiency  in  production,  which  society  approves. 
Unionism  will  render  good  service  to  society  if  it  couples  with 
the  demand  for  higher  wages,  increased  efficiency  in  production. 
In  that  way  it  will  make  good  its  claim  and  attain  its  object, 
and  the  demand  will  be  salutary  in  its  influence  upon  industrial 
life.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  labor  tries  to  drive  a  bargain  with 
capital  on  the  principle  "  get  as  much  as  possible  and  give  as 
little  as  possible/'  it  antagonizes  both  capitalist  and  consumer, 
and  must  necessarily  fail  in  its  purpose.  Unionism  has  great 
possibilities  of  good,  but  the  condition  of  their  attainment  is 
that  the  labor  leaders  should  recognize  the  fact  that  the  wages 
of  labor  bear  a  direct  relation  to  its  usefulness  to  the  capitalist 
14 


210  THE    ANTHRACITE    COAL    INDUSTRY. 

and  the  consumer,  and  the  only  sure  foundation  upon  which 
wages  can  advance  is  increased  efficiency  in  production. 

In  the  effort  to  secure  collective  bargaining,  the  union  is  un- 
doubtedly right,  and  the  reluctance  of  operators  to  meet  the 
leaders  of  organized  labor  finds  no  justification  either  on  indus- 
trial or  moral  grounds.  "  The  exigencies  of  modern  industry 
compel  men  to  move  in  masses."  This  is  true  of  labor.  To 
ask  or  expect  workmen  to  treat  single-handed  with  their  em- 
ployers, is  to  place  labor  at  a  disadvantage.  Labor  cannot 
wait,  capital  can.  Labor  cannot  find  an  employer  any  hour  of 
the  day ;  unfortunately,  employers  can  find  laborers  in  plenty. 
Employers  have  wit,  wealth  and  wide  knowledge  of  the  mar- 
kets ;  labor  generally  has  nothing  but  empty  hands  and  a 
family.  To  ask  labor  to  stand  alone  in  its  bargaining  with 
capital  is  to  demand  conditions  decidedly  disadvantageous  to 
the  laborer.  Labor  has  a  right  to  combine  and  do  business 
collectively  with  capital.  It  will  thus  get  the  support  of  the 
union  in  its  demand.  The  employer  will  be  more  apt  to  do 
rightly  by  labor  when  he  feels  that  he  has  to  do  with  all  and 
not  with  one  employe.  United  action  under  wise  leadership 
will  give  labor  an  equal  advantage  with  capital,  in  securing 
knowledge  of  economic  conditions  which  may  accrue  to  its  ad- 
vantage. These  advantages  of  collective  bargaining  the  mine 
workmen  will  not  forego,  and  the  employers  should  concede. 

The  leadership  of  the  United  Mine  Workers  has  displayed 
great  judgment  and  wisdom.  Blatant  orators  are  not  in  con- 
trol. The  leadership  is  in  the  hands  of  men  who  have  thus  far 
proved  competent  to  exercise  it.  Under  wise  leaders  and  con- 
ciliatory operators,  the  labor  disputes  in  the  anthracite  coal 
fields  ought  to  be  reduced  to  a  minimum.  The  interests  of  both 
employers  and  employes  lie  in  doing  all  they  possibly  can  to 
evade  industrial  warfare.  There  are  dangerous  elements  among 
the  present  population  of  the  anthracite  coal  fields,  and  if  a 
fierce  conflict  occurs  nothing  can  be  expected  but  bloodshed  and 
arson.  The  better  part  of  valor  is  prudence.  When  both 
parties  to  a  dispute  are  open  to  reason,  conciliatory  measures 
should  prevail  to  settle  disputes  before  they  reach  the  stage  of 


UNIONISM.  211 

open  hostility.  When  the  intelligent  operator  and  the  respon- 
sible labor  leader  come  face  to  face  they  understand  each  other's 
position  better,  and  misunderstandings,  which  are  responsible 
for  much  friction,  can  be  evaded.  Both  parties  ought  to  meet 
to  discuss  grievances,  to  fix  the  rate  of  wages  as  far  as  that  is 
possible,  and  to  make  long-time  contracts  on  that  basis. 

This  would  preclude  the  danger  of  labor  troubles  and  the 
cooperative  forces  in  the  anthracite  coal  fields  would  harmo- 
niously work  together  in  the  production  of  wealth. 

Capital  and  labor  should  not  be  antagonistic  for  the  pros- 
perity of  each  is  bound  up  with  the  strength  and  activity  of 
the  other. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

RECLAIMING  THE  WASTE. 

1.  CAUSES  OF  WASTE.     2.  IMPROVED  METHODS  OF  ECONOMY.     3.  FLUSH- 
ING THE  MINES.     4.  OVERHAULING  THE  CULM  HEAPS. 


It  is  impossible  for  men  to  form  correct  judgments  when 
their  prejudices  or  interests  predispose  them  to  a  certain  con- 
clusion. Among  the  industrial  classes,  economic  conditions 
warp  their  judgment  more  than  any  other  influence  to  which 
they  may  be  subjected.  If  labor  cannot  get  enough  to  supply 
its  need,  according  to  the  prevailing  standard  of  living,  the  cry 
of  theft  will  soon  be  raised  in  the  camp.  When  the  pressure 
of  want  pinches  the  home,  men  are  disposed  to  think  that  they 
do  not  get  their  rightful  share  of  the  national  dividend.  The 
opinion  that  capital  exploits  labor  is  very  prevalent  among  the 
working  classes.  Good  men,  who  do  not  wish  to  wrong  their 
fellow  citizens,  are  disposed  to  look  upon  the  returns  to  capital 
as  exploitation  of  labor.  For  the  last  half  century  there  has  en- 
tered into  the  life  of  labor  a  sentiment  which  predisposes  laborers 
to  look  upon  the  capitalist  as  a  thief  and  a  robber.  This 
sentiment  finds  expression  in  a  concrete  form  among  the  miners 
of  the  anthracite  coal  fields,  in  the  motto  quoted  in  the  previous 
chapter  :  "  Don't  handle  washery  coal ;  that  is  what  the  com- 
pany stole  from  the  miner." 

Washery  coal  is  that  which  is  reclaimed  from  the  culm  heaps, 
where  the  refuse  of  collieries  for  many  years  was  dumped. 
The  course  of  reasoning  by  which  the  miners  arrive  at  their 
conclusion  is  as  follows  :  The  mining  companies  only  paid  the 
miners  for  coal  they  sent  to  market ;  the  refuse  sent  to  the 
dump  was  not  paid  for.  That  refuse  is  now  turned  to  a  source 
of  profit  by  the  operator,  and  since  labor  was  not  paid  any- 

212 


EECLAIMING   THE   WASTE.  213 

thing  for  mining  it,  the  product  of  these  washeries  is  a  theft : 
it  is  robbing  the  miner. 

That  is  bad  reasoning  and  utterly  inconsistent  with  commer- 
cial ethics.  Capital  and  labor,  when  they  enter  into  the  work 
of  producing  wealth,  form  a  contract.  If  the  terms  of  the 
contract  be  fulfilled,  nothing  more  can  be  asked  of  the  parties 
to  it  by  commercial  morality.  Subsequent  advantages  may 
accrue  to  one  of  the  parties  by  the  bargain,  but  that  does  not 
make  the  transaction  immoral.  Suppose  a  man  buys  a  lot  for 
$100,  and  in  a  month  after,  a  railroad  company  expects  to  con- 
struct a  line  passing  that  way,  and  desiring  the  lot,  pays  him 
$1,000  for  it ;  no  one  will  think  for  a  moment  that  he  has 
robbed  the  man  of  whom  he  bought  the  property,  although  he 
made  $900  in  the  transaction.  Producing  coal  is  a  contract 
between  capital  and  labor.  When  capital  pays  labor  the  wages 
agreed  to,  it  has  discharged  its  obligation  and  is  above  reproach 
according  to  the  laws  of  commercial  policy.  Labor  cannot  de- 
mand more.  When  the  coal  partly  represented  by  these  coal 
heaps  was  mined,  the  miners  were  paid  the  wages  agreed  to, 
and  in  all  justice  they  cannot  demand  more.  If  subsequent 
inventions  have  made  it  possible  to  use  some  of  the  refuse  of 
past  years,  that  is  the  advantage  of  the  capitalist ;  but  it  is  bad 
logic  and  bad  morality  to  raise  the  cry  of  "  thief,"  when  this  is 
done.  The  cause  of  labor  will  not  be  benefited  by  false  reason- 
ing and  erroneous  conclusions. 

Our  purpose  in  the  present  chapter  is  to  trace  the  improve- 
ments made  in  recent  years  in  greater  economy  in  producing 
coal. 

CAUSES   OF    WASTE. 

Nature  is  said  to  have  carried  away  ninety-nine  per  cent,  of 
the  original  coal  area  in  Pennsylvania  by  erosion.  When  the 
first  generation  of  operators  mined  coal  in  the  anthracite  regions, 
they  hardly  turned  25  per  cent,  of  the  original  contents  of  the 
veins  to  commercial  use.  The  methods  of  mining,  transport- 
ing, and  preparing  coal  were  exceedingly  wasteful.  The  opera- 
tors did  not  study  economy  in  operating  the  veins.  They 
thought  the  seams  exhaustless,  and  when  the  miners  of  Summit 


214  THE    ANTHRACITE   COAL    INDUSTRY. 

Hill  struck  bottom  at  the  depth  of  60  feet  when  operating  the 
Mammoth  vein,  it  was  a  surprise  to  all.  It  created  a  sensa- 
tion in  Philadelphia,  and  lowered  the  stocks  of  the  mining 
company.  The  whole  mountain  was  thought  to  be  a  solid  mass 
of  coal.  In  the  early  years  of  mining,  the  veins  were  rich, 
labor  cheap,  and  prices,  comparatively  speaking,  high.  There 
was  nothing  to  enforce  economy  in  production.  Those  days 
are  referred  to  by  some  as  the  halcyon  days  of  mining.  Dur- 
ing the  Civil  War  and  for  some  years  after,  there  was  no  ex- 
ternal pressure  demanding  economy.  Prices  were  high,  royalties 
low,  and  the  richest  veins  were  operated.  The  Nation,  re- 
ferring to  the  returns  to  capital  during  the  latter  part  of  the 
Civil  War,  says  :  "  all  made  profits  to  their  hearts'  content  and 
such  dividends  too  that  they  were  almost  ashamed  to  let  them 
be  known,  but  handed  them  to  their  stockholders  in  various 
disguises." 

Such  conditions  were  not  favorable  to  economy  in  produc- 
tion. In  the  next  decade,  however,  profits  diminished,  and 
the  management  looked  around  to  see  if  there  were  not  leaks 
which  could  be  stopped.  The  supplies  were  more  carefully 
handled,  the  veins  more  scientifically  operated,  and  attention 
was  given  to  the  great  waste  which  was  annually  going  on  in  the 
amount  of  coal  sent  to  the  dumps.  This  attention  was  de- 
manded in  order  that  interest  might  be  paid  on  the  capital  in- 
vested in  railroads,  canals,  equipment  and  coal  land.  Wages 
also  had  advanced  and  the  cost  of  production  increased.  All 
these  forces  worked  in  the  direction  of  greater  economy,  which 
has  been  studiously  effected  in  the  last  thirty  years.  This  re- 
sults in  a  gain  to  society.  If  methods  of  production  improve 
so  that  75  per  cent,  of  the  coal  mined  is  of  commercial  value, 
whereas  only  35  per  cent,  was  formerly  used,  society  is  bene- 
fited ;  it  is  producing  wealth  where  it  did  not  formerly  exist, 
and  that  adds  to  the  national  dividend,  on  which  all  must  de- 
pend for  the  necessaries  and  comforts  of  life. 

Waste  in  mining  occurs  in  various  ways.  We  saw  that  all 
the  coal  in  the  seams  cannot  be  mined.  Some  must  be  left  as 
pillars.  The  amount  to  be  left  in  pillars  varies  with  the  thick- 


RECLAIMING  THE   WASTE.  215 

ness  of  the  coal,  the  nature  of  the  roof,  and  the  depth  of  the 
shaft.  On  the  average  throughout  the  anthracite  coal  fields 
about  30  per  cent,  of  the  original  contents  of  the  seam  must  be 
left.  In  many  sections,  however,  it  goes  over  50  per  cent., 
while  in  others  it  may  be  reduced  to  15  per  cent.  Often  a 
squeeze  occurs  in  a  mine  which  makes  it  impossible  to  continue 
the  work  of  mining  coal.  Water  may  break  into  a  colliery  in 
such  quantities  that  the  mines  must  be  abandoned.  A  fire  in  a 
seam  on  the  Hazleton  Mountain  has  been  burning  for  a  gener- 
ation, and  has  defied  all  attempts  to  extinguish  it.  All  these 
are  sources  of  waste. 

Then  waste  comes  in  through  lack  of  judgment  in  the  miner 
in  using  powder  to  blast  the  coal.  If  his  charge  is  too  large, 
he  may  possibly  blow  the  major  part  of  the  dislodgment  to 
fragments  which  cannot  be  gathered  together  and  sent  to  the 
breaker.  In  the  pitching  veins  of  the  Middle  and  Southern 
fields  coal  to  the  amount  of  over  2,000  tons  is  often  left  in  the 
chamber,  which  must  necessarily,  by  its  own  weight,  grind  a 
certain  percentage  to  powder. 

In  some  veins  coal  clings  to  the  rock,  so  that  it  cannot  be 
severed  and  must  go  to  the  rock  dump.  Then  in  transporting 
coal  from  the  chambers  to  the  breaker,  a  waste  of  about  5  per 
cent,  takes  place.  In  preparing  coal  in  the  breaker  waste 
again  comes  in.  Coal  cannot  be  broken  to  the  market  sizes 
without  some  of  it  being  ground  to  culm.  The  total  waste 
from  all  these  sources  amounts  on  the  average  to  about  50 
per  cent. 

We  have  had  occasion  in  previous  chapters  to  speak  of  the 
great  variety  of  conditions  in  different  sections  of  the  anthra- 
cite coal  fields.  There  is  a  similar  variety  in  the  matter  of 
waste.  J.  A.  Stearns  measured  a  coal-bed  five  feet  eleven 
inches  thick,  in  the  Wyoming  Valley,  and  showed  that  44.8 
per  cent,  of  the  coal  in  the  bed  was  shipped  to  market ;  but  an 
estimate  made,  by  the  same  method,  of  a  bed  in  the  Middle 
coal  field,  showed  an  average  of  only  25  per  cent,  shipped  to 
market.  Dr.  Chance,  writing  in  the  year  1883,  said,  that  by 
the  methods  of  mining  then  practiced,  from  66  to  72  per  cent. 


216  THE    ANTHRACITE    COAL   INDUSTRY. 

of  the  total  amount  of  coal  in  the  ground  was  wasted.  He 
argued  for  greater  economy  in  production  by  the  introduction 
of  improved  methods.  One  of  the  inspectors,  writing  in  1872, 
said  that  he  thought  "  one-half  of  the  product  of  the  anthra- 
cite mines  is  put  to  waste. " 

Early  in  the  fifties,  mining  engineers  in  England  directed 
attention  to  waste  in  mining.  In  1861,  Mr.  Crossham,  ad- 
dressing a  body  of  engineers  in  Swansea,  South  Wales,  specified 
three  causes  of  waste  : 

1.  Coal  left  in  the  ground  untouched. 

2.  The  unskilled  and  unscientific  management  in  raising  it. 

3.  Waste  after  it  is  brought  to  the  surface. 

It  was  many  years  after  this  that  mining  engineers  directed 
attention  to  these  sources  of  waste  in  the  anthracite  coal  fields. 
The  chief  mining  engineer  of  the  Girard  estate  estimated  that 
over  50  per  cent,  of  the  original  contents  of  the  thick  veins  was 
left  untouched  in  the  ground.  There  are  veins  from  four  to 
five  feet  thick  in  Lackawanna  Valley,  about  200  feet  below  the 
surface,  from  which  90  per  cent,  of  the  total  contents  is  taken 
out.  Coal  operators  to-day  see  the  end  of  the  anthracite  coal 
fields,  and  they  want  to  make  the  best  possible  use  of  them,  so 
that  the  greatest  care  is  exercised  in  mining,  and  the  sources  of 
waste,  which  proved  so  heavy  a  drain  in  the  early  years  of  the 
industry,  are  curtailed.  More  coal  is  mined  from  the  seams, 
better  methods  have  been  introduced  in  handling  coal,  and  bet- 
ter machinery  has  been  put  in  the  breaker.  The  successful 
engineer  of  to-day  is  the  man  who  can  cause  the  seams  to  yield 
the  greatest  percentage  of  marketable  coal. 

IMPROVEMENTS    AND    ECONOMY. 

Waste  in  mining  can  be  curtailed  in  two  ways — by  improved 
machinery  and  by  the  use  of  sizes  of  coal  which  were  once 
thrown  to  the  refuse  heap.  These  have  been  the  two  lines 
along  which  the  operators  have  acted. 

The  returns  to  capital  and  labor  depend  on  the  amount  of 
marketable  coal  extracted  from  the  earth.  To  increase  the 
percentage  of  coal  which  can  be  consumed  has  always  been  and 


RECLAIMING   THE   WASTE.  217 

still  is  the  aim  of  engineers.  In  the  years  1820-1870  it  is 
computed  that  after  deducting  the  percentage  due  to  impuri- 
ties and  waste,  only  about  27  per  cent,  of  the  original  con- 
tents of  the  seams  was  sent  to  market.  By  the  year  1882, 
improved  methods  and  the  use  of  smaller  sizes  brought  this  up 
to  46  per  cent.,  so  that  up  to  twenty  years  ago  more  than  50 
per  cent,  of  the  coal  did  not  yield  any  returns.  To-day,  it  is 
estimated  that  75  per  cent,  is  sent  to  market,  and  only  25  per 
cent,  goes  to  waste. 

The  greatest  improvement  in  machinery  is  in  the  breaker. 
The  old  breakers  sometimes  wasted  25  per  cent,  of  the  coal 
prepared  by  them.  The  rollers  were  made  of  cast  iron  and 
revolved  at  a  comparatively  slow  speed.  The  blunt  teeth 
crushed  much  of  the  coal  and  ground  it  to  dust.  To-day, 
steel-toothed  rollers  are  used  which  revolve  at  a  high  speed. 
They  break  the  coal  and  do  not  crush  it,  and  thus  greatly 
diminish  the  waste  caused  by  the  old  style  of  rollers.  All 
screens  formerly  used  for  separating  prepared  coal  into  various 
sizes,  revolved,  and  caused  waste  by  friction  in  the  process  of 
assorting  the  coal.  In  breakers  equipped  with  modern  machin- 
ery most  of  these  revolving  screens  are  supplanted  by  long  flat 
screens  attached  to  eccentric  rods,  over  which  the  coal  passes, 
while  they  are  being  moved  to  and  fro  on  a  slightly  inclined  plane. 
These  improvements  have  resulted  in  greater  economy  in  the 
preparation  of  coal.  Interesting  experiments  have  been  made 
by  engineers  with  the  improved  devices  and  the  following  was 
the  result : 

EXPERIMENTS   IN   PREPARING   COAL. 


Place  of  Experiment. 

Percentage  of  Waste 
by  Old  Method. 

Percentage  of  Waste 
by  New  Method. 

Empire  Breaker  (Baltimore  Bed)... 
Sugar  Notch  

11.96$ 

18  75 

8.03& 
13  15 

Empire  Breaker  (Hillman  Bed)  

17.68 

11.96 

Experiments  were  conducted  at  Shenandoah  with  the  Mam- 
moth vein  which  resulted  in  15  per  cent,  waste.  But  in 
Wilkes-Barre  tests  made  at  the  Red  Ash  breaker  showed  that 
the  waste  was  only  6  per  cent.  If  an  average  saving  of  5  per 


218  THE   ANTHRACITE    COAL   INDUSTRY. 

cent,  is  effected  in  a  breaker  of  1,000  tons  capacity  a  day,  it 
would  amount  to  50  tons  of  coal  daily,  which  in  a  year  of  200 
days  would  yield  an  increase  of  10,000  tons  over  the  old  method. 

Large  as  the  saving  from  improved  machinery  is,  when  we 
consider  the  whole  extent  of  the  anthracite  coal  fields,  never- 
theless, that  is  but  a  fraction  of  the  economy  effected  in  recent 
years  by  the  use  of  smaller  sizes.  In  1836,  a  visitor  from  New 
England  to  the  coal  fields  of  northeastern  Pennsylvania  wrote 
the  following  in  the  North  American  Review:  "In  Phila- 
delphia, New  York,  and  Providence,  it  is  understood  that 
very  small  coal  and  coal  dust,  which  hitherto  could  not  obtain 
a  market,  is  employed  to  some  extent  in  the  steam  engines  of 
manufactories."  That  is  a  curious  piece  of  history,  when  we 
remember  that  the  smaller  sizes  did  not  come  into  general  use 
until  the  year  1882.  The  probable  explanation  is,  that  at 
this  early  date,  an  experiment  to  burn  the  smaller  sizes  was 
made  by  some  manufacturers,  but  that  the  inventive  mind  of 
the  day  did  not  devise  the  proper  grate  to  make  a  success  of  it. 
Experiments  to  use  the  smaller  sizes  were  made  in  the  year 
when  Dr.  Chance  wrote  on  "Anthracite  Coal  Mining"  (1883), 
for  he  refers  to  them  :  "  A  certain  quantity  of  fine  coal  is 
now  consumed,  but  it  represents  only  a  very  small  percentage 
of  the  amount  annually  thrown  away." 

During  the  depression  of  1865-1866,  a  writer  to  the  Potts- 
ville  Miners'  Journal  advised  the  throwing  to  the  dump  of 
chestnut  coal,  for  the  reason  that  it  interfered  with  the  sale 
of  larger  sizes.  This  was  done  by  some  collieries  in  the 
fifties,  for  consumers  were  prejudiced  against  coal  of  the  size  of 
chestnut  and  it  did  not  pay  the  operators  to  ship  it  to  market. 
Heber  S.  Thompson,  engineer  of  the  Girard  estate,  writing  in 
the  year  1892  says,  that  in  the  leases  of  that  estate  prior  to  the 
year  1869,  the  smallest  marketable  coal  was  chestnut  or  such 
as  would  pass  over  a  screen  mesh  one  inch  square.  In  the 
leases  of  1869,  peanut  coal  was  first  recognized,  or  such  as  would 
pass  through  a  screen  mesh  five-eighths  of  an  inch  square. 
Buckwheat  coal,  or  such  as  would  pass  through  a  screen  mesh 
of  half  an  inch,  appeared  separately  in  the  railroad  toll  reports 


RECLAIMING   THE   WASTE.  219 

for  the  first  time  in  1878.  In  1893  still  smaller  sizes  were 
screened.  No.  2  buckwheat  was  made  fcf '  "Wftaf "would  pass 
through  a  screen  mesh  three-eighths  of  an  inch  square,  and  rice 
size  was  prepared  of  what  would  pass  through  a  screen  mesh 
a  quarter  of  an  inch  square.  Still  later  we  have  birds-eye  size 
which  is  screened  through  a  mesh  three-sixteenths  of  an  inch 
square.  Thus  from  1870  to  1895,  four  or  five  sizes  of  coal  were 
prepared  for  the  market,  which  were  wholly  unknown  to  the 
trade  before. 

To-day  these  sizes  comprise  30  per  cent,  of  the  coal  shipped 
to  market^  In  the  year  1899,  48,000,000  tons  were  shipped 
from  the  collieries,  of  which  14,400,000  tons  were  composed  of 
sizes  which  prior  to  1870  would  have  gone  to  the  dump.  To 
this  sum  must  be  added  another  5,000,000  tons  which  is  con- 
sumed at  the  collieries  to  generate  steam.  Thus  we  have  an 
economy  of  some  20,000,000  tons  annually,  due  to  the  utiliza- 
tion of  smaller  sizes. 

This  is  the  creation  of  wealth  which  is  a  source  of  profit  to 
society.  These  smaller  sizes  revolve  thousands  of  wheels,  fur- 
nish power  to  hundreds  of  thriving  factories  and  workshops, 
speed  electric  cars  on  their  way,  illuminate  our  streets  and 
homes,  and  bring  wealth  and  comfort  to  humanity  in  a  hun- 
dred different  ways. 

FLUSHING   THE    MINES. 

Another  scheme  to  curtail  the  loss  due  to  pillars  is  that  of 
flushing  the  mines,  which  was  first  introduced  at  Wilkes-Barre 
in  the  year  1891.  The  custom  which  generally  prevails  in  an- 
thracite mining  is  to  first  take  out  all  the  coal  which  can  be 
safely  mined,  and  then  begin  in  the  farthest  part  of  the  workings 
to  "rob"  the  pillars ;  that  is,  to  take  as  much  coal  as  possible 
from  the  pillars,  and  work  back  toward  the  foot  of  the  shaft. 
Sometimes,  when  a  corporation  has  sufficient  capital,  the  veins 
are  opened  by  driving  the  gangways  and  airways  to  the  greatest 
length  to  which  they  propose  to  work  the  seams,  then  chambers 
are  opened  in  the  farthest  part  of  the  mines  and  all  the  coal  which 
can  be  removed  from  the  vein  is  taken  out  and  as  the  work- 


220  THE   ANTHRACITE   COAL    INDUSTRY. 

ings  approach  the  shaft  the  worked-out  sections  are  abandoned. 
This  latter  method  of  developing  a  mine  is  most  expensive  and 
is  seldom  adopted,  although  it  has  the  advantage  of  taking  out 
at  the  one  time  all  the  coal  that  can  be  mined.  Operators,  how- 
ever, want  to  produce  coal  for  the  market  as  soon  as  possible, 
hence  they  open  chambers  near  the  foot  of  the  shaft  and  carry 
their  workings  farther  and  farther  from  the  opening  as  the 
work  progresses.  This  necessitates  leaving  enough  pillar  to 
keep  the  airways,  gangways  and  counter-gangways  in  a  per- 
fectly safe  condition  for  communication  and  transportation. 

But  after  the  seam  has  been  exhausted  by  this  method  the 
operation  of  "  robbing  "  the  pillars  begins,  which  is  dangerous 
work.  Sometimes  it  happens  that  even  before  any  attempt  is 
made  to  rob  the  pillars,  a  general  squeeze  comes  and  destroys 
large  areas  of  partly  worked  coal.  If  a  crush  comes  when  the 
work  of  robbing  the  pillars  is  going  on  it  must  be  abandoned 
and  further  operations  in  that  area  are  impossible.  In  Shenan- 
doah,  Col.  D.  P.  Brown  estimated  that  a  crush  of  this  kind  in 
the  Mammoth  vein  resulted  in  the  loss  of  from  50  to  70  per 
cent,  of  the  original  contents  of  the  bed.  What  the  companies 
in  the  Northern  coal  field  hope  to  accomplish  by  flushing  the 
mines  is  to  render  the  old  workings  more  safe  so  that  a  larger 
percentage  of  the  pillars  can  be  removed. 

The  scheme  was  first  introduced  from  the  necessity  of  finding 
a  place  to  deposit  the  refuse  from  two  portable  washeries  erected 
at  the  Dodson  and  Black  Diamond  collieries  at  Wilkes-Barre. 
The  washeries  were  built  in  1891,  for  the  purpose  of  overhaul- 
ing the  culm  bank,  in  order  to  secure  the  refuse  coal  thrown 
there  in  past  years.  In  the  process  a  large  quantity  of  water 
was  used,  which,  as  it  left  the  washery,  was  laden  with  coal 
dust.  The  law  forbade  the  turning  of  this  into  the  river,  so 
large  sumps  were  constructed,  but  these  filled  up  too  rapidly ; 
hence  it  occurred  to  the  operators  to  turn  it  into  the  old  work- 
ings in  the  mines.  The  experiment  was  tried  and  turned  out  a 
perfect  success.  The  plan  is  now  adopted  in  many  collieries, 
and  not  only  is  the  refuse  from  the  culm  banks  carried  back 
into  the  mines,  but  arrangements  are  also  made  whereby  the 


RECLAIMING   THE   WASTE.  221 

refuse  from  the  breaker  is  carried  there,  so  that  the  force  em- 
ployed at  the  culm  bank  is  wholly  done  away  with. 

The  process  is  as  follows  :  A  washery  is  erected  into  which 
the  content  of  the  culm  bank  or  the  refuse  from  the  breaker  is 
brought.  Here  rock  crushers  are  used,  which  grind  up  all  the 
refuse  to  the  size  of  chestnut.  The  water  used  in  cleaning  the 
coal,  as  it  flows  in  six-inch  wrought-iron  pipes,  carries  this  re- 
fuse along  from  the  washery.  These  pipes  are  carried  under- 
ground to  the  old  workings  to  be  flushed.  The  men  in  charge 
of  the  flushing  operations  have  a  certain  area  mapped  out 
which  is  to  be  filled.  The  pipe  is  carried  into  this  old  working 
and  the  employes  select  the  most  advantageous  chamber  to 
begin  the  work.  Their  first  duty  is  to  close  up  all  openings 
connecting  the  chamber  with  adjoining  ones  or  with  the  counter- 
gangway  or  gangway.  This  completed,  they  erect  boards  at  the 
main  entrance  into  the  chamber  from  the  main  road  and  turn  in 
the  water.  The  old  chamber  thus  becomes  a  sump  into  which 
a  constant  stream  of  water  laden  with  refuse  from  the  washery 
and  breaker  flows  as  long  as  the  machinery  on  the  surface  is  in 
operation.  The  water  in  this  enclosed  space  gradually  flows  to 
lower  levels,  where  it  is  pumped  to  the  surface,  leaving  in  the 
old  chamber  a  closely  packed  mass  of  coal  dust  and  refuse. 
While  one  chamber  is  being  filled  another  is  made  ready  for 
the  same  treatment  by  closing  up  all  exists  from  it  into  ad- 
joining chambers,  counter-gangway  or  gangway.  A  pipe  is 
then  adjusted  leading  into  the  chamber  and  it  is  only  necessary 
to  make  a  new  connection  with  the  pipe  coming  from  the 
washery.  In  this  way  the  old  working  can  be  packed  up  so 
tight  with  the  coal  dust  and  slate  carried  by  the  water,  that  one 
can  hardly  find  space  for  his  hand  between  the  deposited  refuse 
and  the  roof.  It  stands  to  reason  that  this  affords  greater  pro- 
tection in  case  of  a  squeeze. 

The  amount  of  dirt  carried  into  the  chamber  by  the  water 
varies  according  to  the  lay  of  the  vein.  If  the  water  flows 
down  hill  or  on  a  level  plain,  three  or  four  pounds  of  water 
will  carry  two  pounds  of  dirt.  If  the  chamber  rises  from  10 
to  100  feet  above  the  level  of  the  shaft,  the  work  of  flushing  is 


222  THE   ANTHRACITE    COAL   INDUSTRY. 

more  difficult.  The  pipe  then  must  be  carried  to  the  face  and  it 
takes  from  three  to  six  pounds  of  water  to  carry  one  pound  of  dirt. 
Conjectures  have  been  made  as  to  the  resistance  these  artificially 
packed  up  chambers  would  offer  to  a  general  crush,  should  it 
come  upon  them.  A  cubic  foot  of  coal,  ground  to  powder, 
fills  a  space  12"x  12"  x  17.5",  so  that  the  expansion  is  5.5". 
In  case  of  a  squeeze,  the  contents  of  the  packed  chamber  would 
be  somewhat  compressed,  but  not  to  the  density  of  the  origi- 
nal state  of  the  rock  and  coal.  It  greatly  strengthens  the 
various  kinds  of  props  used  in  the  mines,  preserves  the  tim- 
ber, and  fills  up  all  the  crevices  between  the  various  layers 
of  rock  known  as  the  "gob."  Fear  was  expressed  that 
spontaneous  combustion  might  occur  in  these  dirt  piles,  which 
would  destroy  the  mines.  Careful  tests  have  been  made,  and 
no  signs  of  fire  have  been  detected.  In  a  breaker  producing 
150,000  tons  a  year,  the  amount  of  stuff  sent  down  the  shaft 
by  this  process  was  33,750  tons,  which  was  spread  over  a 
surface  of  6.5  acres. 

This  method  of  disposing  of  the  refuse  has  many  advantages. 
It  does  away  with  the  force  and  appliances  formerly  used  at 
the  culm  bank,  which  involved  an  expense  of  one  cent  per  ton 
of  coal  produced.  To  carry  the  stuff  to  the  mines  is  cheaper. 
The  companies  which  first  experimented  with  this  system  esti- 
mated that  they  saved  from  f  10  to  $13  a  day.  In  many  of 
the  collieries,  surface  room  is  very  valuable.  By  this  process, 
no  surface  property  is  taken  up  by  the  refuse.  By  turning  the 
water  laden  with  coal  dust  into  the  mines,  there  is  no  danger  of 
litigation  arising  from  pollution  of  streams  or  the  flooding  of 
adjacent  properties.  And  last,  but  not  least,  the  total  percentage 
extracted  of  the  original  contents  of  the  seam  is  increased. 

OVERHAULING   THE   CULM   DUMPS. 

One  of  the  chief  disfiguring  elements  due  to  the  mining 
industry  in  the  beautiful  valley  of  Wyoming,  is  the  huge  culm 
heaps  which  are  everywhere  seen.  They  are  an  eye-sore  and 
always  observed  by  visitors  to  the  coal  fields.  The  recent 
economies  effected  in  the  preparation  of  smaller  sizes  for  the 


RECLAIMING   THE    WASTE.  223 

market  will  in  a  few  years  remove  all  these.  Many  companies 
have  recently  erected  washeries  near  these  culm  heaps,  and 
by  a  system  of  conveyors,  all  the  contents  of  the  banks  will 
ultimately  pass  through  these  appliances,  so  that  a  large  part  of 
them  will  be  sent  to  market  as  fuel,  and  the  remainder  re- 
turned to  its  original  home  beneath  the  sod.  Dr.  Chance, 
writing  in  1883  said,  "  there  are  enough  of  these  heaps  to  cover 
ten  square  miles  of  ground  forty  feet  deep,  or  almost  enough  to 
form  a  pyramid  one  mile  square  at  the  base  and  twelve  hun- 
dred feet  high." 

Attention  was  first  directed  to  the  old  culm  heaps  in  the 
year  1890.  Some  of  the  enterprising  operators  of  the  Northern 
coal  field  brought  the  question  before  the  annual  meeting  of  the 
American  Institute  of  Mining  Engineers  held  that  year.  There 
was  a  division  of  opinion  on  the  subject.  However,  the  Lack- 
awanna  Iron  and  Steel  Company  of  Scranton  had  in  the  early 
eighties  conducted  an  experiment  in  using  the  smallest  sizes  to 
generate  steam,  and  it  had  proved  a  success.  Its  agent  ap- 
peared before  the  above  Institute  and  said  that  they  paid  from 
20  cents  to  25  cents  a  ton  for  the  smallest  sizes  delivered  at  their 
boilers,  and  that  ample  steam  was  generated  by  their  use.  It  was 
cheap  fuel.  The  company  had  estimated  the  cost  of  generating 
steam  by  it,  and  it  amounted  to  only  2  cents  per  horse  power 
per  day  of  24  hours,  while  the  labor  in  firing  and  taking  care 
of  the  ashes  was  not  greater  than  with  coarse  coal.  Eckley  B. 
Coxe  vigorously  opposed  the  conversion  of  the  old  culm  heaps 
into  marketable  coal.  He  affirmed  that  it  was  deteriorated  by 
the  action  of  the  atmosphere  ;  that  much  of  it  was  destroyed  by 
fire ;  that  to  mix  it  with  the  coal  turned  out  from  the  breaker 
would  surely  tell  upon  their  trade ;  and  that  former  attempts 
in  this  direction  had  resulted  only  in  disappointment. 

The  miners  also  objected  to  the  erection  of  washeries,  for  the 
reason  that  the  coal  sent  to  market  from  them  would  lessen  the 
demand  at  the  mines,  and  so  give  them  fewer  days'  work  in 
the  year.  But  notwithstanding  all  objections,  the  washeries 
were  erected,  and  according  to  the  last  report  of  the  Bureau  of 
Mines  (1899),  there  are  twenty  of  them  in  operation  in  the 
Northern  coal  field. 


224  THE   ANTHRACITE    COAL    INDUSTRY. 

Before  1870  all  sizes  below  chestnut  were  sent  to  the  culm 
dump.  The  total  tonnage  sent  to  market  from  1820  to  1870 
was  200,928,364  tons.  Mr.  Thompson  estimated  that  38  per 
cent,  of  the  total  tonnage  sent  to  market  went  to  these  refuse 
heaps,  so  that  they  contained  about  76,000,000  tons  of  market- 
able coal.  Buckwheat,  according  to  Arthur  S.  Shaffer,  of 
Pottsville,  was  first  prepared  for  market  in  1880,  so  that  be- 
tween 1870  and  1880  all  sizes  smaller  than  peanut  coal  went  to 
the  culm  heap.  During  this  decade  over  195,000,000  tons  were 
sent  to  market.  Buckwheat  to-day  forms  about  10  per  cent, 
of  the  total  shipment  at  the  breaker,  so  that  in  the  above  dec- 
ade about  19,500,000  tons  were  thrown  away,  most  of  which 
the  present  operators  are  resolved  to  reclaim. 

The  oldest  culm  banks  are  the  richest.  When  the  Girard 
estate  made  tests  of  some  of  them,  42  per  cent,  of  the  contents 
was  found  to  be  marketable  coal.  Of  the  sizes  shipped,  19.94 
per  cent,  was  peanut  coal,  80.06  per  cent,  was  smaller  sizes. 
In  1893  by  the  introduction  of  new  machinery,  whereby  they 
were  able  to  prepare  still  smaller  sizes,  the  above  percentage  was 
raised  to  50. 

The  portable  washeries  erected  in  1891  at  the  Dodson  and 
Black  Diamond  collieries  cost  about  $6,000  each  and  had  a 
capacity  of  about  150  tons  a  day.  The  washeries  which  are  put 
up  in  recent  years  are  fixed  and  cost  from  $15,000  to  $20,000, 
having  a  capacity  of  about  600  tons  a  day.  They  are  built  in 
the  most  convenient  place  to  get  the  culm  into  them.  The 
stuff  from  the  heaps  is  carried  to  the  washery  by  a  system  of 
conveyors.  A  long  trough  lined  with  steel  sheeting  is  laid, 
sometimes  over  200  feet  in  length.  In  this  trough  an  endless 
chain  is  kept  in  motion  by  a  small  engine.  Attached  to  the 
chain  are  plates  of  steel  exactly  fitting  the  groove  of  the  trough ; 
these  are  drawn  along  the  trough  by  the  chain  and  thus  con- 
vey the  culm  matter  to  the  washery.  A  force  of  five  or  six 
men  are  kept  at  the  bank,  whose  duty  it  is  to  bring  the  dirt  into 
the  trough.  In  some  places  they  simply  use  the  shovel,  but 
the  more  successful  method  is  flushing.  A  chute,  made  of  sheet 
steel,  is  laid  on  a  pitch,  with  one  end  in  the  trough  and  the 


RECLAIMING   THE    WASTE.  225 

other  on  the  bank.     Then  two  men  ply  a  large  hose  and  the 
water  carries  the  contents  along  the  chute  and  into  the  trough. 

In  the  washery  very  ingenious  devices  are  used  to  wash  and 
assort  the  coal.  Several  boys  are  employed,  but  most  of  the 
work  is  now-a-days  done  by  machinery  and  water.  The  slate 
is  separated  from  the  coal  by  plunging  both  into  a  cistern  filled 
with  water,  which  is  kept  in  motion  by  a  small  engine  attached 
to  it ;  the  coal  being  lighter  than  the  slate,  rises  to  the  surface, 
where  it  is  caught  by  mechanical  appliances  and  taken  to  its 
proper  destination ;  the  slate  is  also  caught  by  another  apparatus 
apd  taken  in  another  direction,  where  it  passes  into  the  rock 
crusher  and  then  down  the  mines.  It  is  the  age  of  machinery 
and  economy,  and  nowhere  is  one  more  impressed  with  this 
thought  than  by  a  visit  to  the  culm  dump  and  washery,  now  a 
constituent  part  of  the  anthracite  coal  industry. 

Some  of  these  banks  are  very  rich  in  coal.  There  was  one 
tested  last  fall  in  St.  Clair  in  which  75  per  cent,  of  the  stuff 
conveyed  to  the  washery  was  converted  into  marketable  com- 
modity. Sections  of  the  same  bank  vary  greatly.  Some  days 
a  section  will  yield  a  surprising  amount  of  chestnut  and  pea- 
nut coal,  while  other  parts  will  yield  little  but  dirt.  The  fore- 
man of  one  of  the  largest  washeries  in  the  Northern  coal  field 
said  that,  on  an  average,  nine  tons  of  stuff  yielded  six  tons  of 
coal.  In  this  washery,  the  smallest  screen  mesh  used  was  -fa 
of  an  inch. 

Two  systems  of  overhauling  the  culm  dumps  are  in  practice  : 
one,  where  the  operators  themselves  do  the  work,  and  the 
other,  where  they  lease  the  culm  heap  to  a  second  party,  who 
pays  the  proprietor  so  much  for  every  ton  of  coal  sent  to 
market.  The  Reading  Company  leases  some  of  its  banks  on 
the  following  terms  :  30  cents  a  ton  for  chestnut ;  20  cents  for 
peanut  coal ;  10  cents  for  buckwheat  and  5  cents  for  rice.  A 
rich  bank  in  the  neighborhood  of  Pottsville,  which  belongs  to 
the  Reading  Company,  was  estimated  to  contain  300,000  tons 
of  marketable  coal.  Parties  who  leased  it  expected  to  get 
6  per  cent,  of  chestnut,  12  per  cent,  of  peanut  coal,  28  per 
cent,  of  buckwheat  and  54  per  cent,  of  rice.  According  to  the 
15 


226  THE   ANTHRACITE   COAL    INDUSTRY. 

above  rates,  the  company  would  realize  from  this  old  bank, 
which  the  fathers  thought  worthless,  the  sum  of  $28,100. 
Men  leasing  a  culm  bank  sell  the  coal  they  prepare  to  the 
railroad  companies;  they  get  for  chestnut  from  $1.50  to  $2.00 
a  ton;  for  peanut  $1.00  ;  for  buckwheat  60  cents  and  for  rice 
40  cents,  at  the  washery.  Many  of  the  operators,  however, 
put  up  their  own  plant  and  overhaul  the  culm  themselves. 

The  total  force  employed  at  a  washery  which  turned  out 
600  tons  a  day,  was  35  hands  ;  14  men  employed  at  from  $1.30 
to  $1.49  a  day,  20  boys  getting  from  58  cents  to  83  cents  a  day,* 
and  a  foreman  who  was  paid  $75  a  month.  The  daily  wage 
of  this  force  amounted  to  $36.60.  The  sum  of  $5.00  a  day 
would  cover  wear  and  tear,  insurance,  and  10  per  cent,  inter- 
est on  $20,000  capital.  This  would  bring  the  daily  expense 
of  running  a  washery  of  600  tons  capacity,  to  about  $41.60. 
Thus  the  average  cost  of  getting  the  coal  to  market  would  be 
about  7  cents  a  ton.  Officials  of  the  company  say  it  costs  be- 
tween 8  and  9  cents  a  ton.  Some  of  the  employes  say  it  does 
not  cost  more  than  from  4  to  5  cents.  Probably  the  truth  lies 
between  these  two  estimates.  The  exact  truth  can  only  be 
learned  from  the  books  of  the  operators. 

Of  the  600  tons  of  coal  sent  to  market,  the  following  would 
be  about  the  proportion  of  the  various  sizes :  from  20  to  30 
tons  of  chestnut;  from  50  to  60  tons  of  peanut ;  from  100  to 
150  tons  of  buckwheat ;  and  from  360  to  430  tons  of  rice. 
Some  of  the  banks  in  Schuylkill  do  better  than  that.  One  of 
them  got  35  per  cent,  of  chestnut  and  peanut,  and  65  per  cent, 
of  buckwheat  and  rice.  If  we  take  the  average  proportion  of 
these  sizes  as  given  above,  and  the  prices  paid  the  men  who 
lease  washeries,  we  have  the  following  estimate  of  the  daily 
returns  from  the  coal  prepared  by  a  washery. 

ESTIMATED    PRODUCTION    OF   A    WASHERY. 

25  tons  of  chestnut  @  $1.50  a  ton $  37.50 

55     "     "  peanut  @  $1.00  a  ton 55.00 

125     "     "  buckwheat  @  60  cents  a  ton 75.00 

395     "     "  Eice  @  40  cents 148.00 

Total $315.50 

*  These  wages  were  paid  before  the  advance  of  ten  per  cent,  last  fall. 


RECLAIMING   THE    WASTE.  227 

Allowing  $50  a  day  for  operating  expenses,  the  washery 
would  be  a  source  of  daily  income  to  the  operators  of  about 
$265.50. 

We  showed  in  a  previous  chapter  that  the  item  of  dead  work 
has  increased  greatly  in  the  last  decade.  Officials  say  that  it 
has  increased  over  30  per  cent.  To  counteract  that  increase  in 
the  cost  of  production,  the  income  from  washeries  is  of  con- 
siderable importance.  And  this  economic  advantage  derived 
from  overhauling  the  old  culm  banks,  is  a  sure  guarantee  that 
all  of  them  will  in  time  disappear. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

KEFLECTIONS. 

1.  THE  CAPITALISTIC  SYSTEM.  2.  FACTS  THAT  LABOR  OUGHT  TO  KNOW. 
3.  POSSIBLE  IMPROVEMENTS  BY  THE  SYNDICATE.  4.  THE  CONDI- 
TIONS OF  PEACE  AND  PROSPERITY  TO  CAPITAL. 


At  the  close  of  our  study  of  the  anthracite  coal  industry, 
reflection  on  the  problems  involved  has  led  to  certain  conclu- 
sions regarding  the  system  under  which  production  is  carried 
on,  as  well  as  the  obligations  imposed  upon  labor  and  capital 
in  their  industrial  relations.  These  reflections  form  the  pres- 
ent chapter. 

The  French  triad,  "liberty,  equality  and  fraternity,"  has 
entered  into  the  fiber  of  modern  civilization,  and  is  the  watch- 
word of  social  reformers.  The  practical  common  sense  of 
Anglo-Saxons  has  not  been  hypnotized  by  the  loud-sounding 
triad.  Some  have  gone  so  far  as  to  call  it  the  "  dry  rot "  of 
modern  civilization.  Be  that  as  it  may,  we  know  that  the 
public  conscience  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  nations  lays  greater 
stress  on  truth,  sympathy  and  justice,  than  upon  "  liberty, 
equality  and  fraternity."  The  old  Puritan  characteristics  of 
seeking  the  truth,  practising  sympathy  and  enforcing  justice, 
are  not  extinct.  Our  surest  hope  of  reform  of  existing  abuses 
is  in  the  strong  and  active  conscience  of  the  leaders  of  men. 

The  richest  inheritance  bequeathed  us  by  our  fathers  is  a 
conscience  trained  to  duty  and  to  right,  and  its  efficiency  in 
regulating  the  industrial  relations  of  life  is  more  potent  than 
all  police  regulations. 

There  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  the  public  conscience 
of  this  present  age  is  more  influential  in  modifying  public  and 
private  life  than  ever  before  in  the  history  of  the  world.  Pub- 

228 


[REFLECTIONS.  229 

licity  is  fast  becoming  the  watchword  of  industrial  reformers. 
The  press  is  ever  alert  and  daily  passes  judgment  on  national 
and  local  undertakings,  while  students  and  teachers  everywhere 
voice  the  demands  of  public  conscience,  and  speed  on  the  reign 
of  righteousness  among  men. 

THE    CAPITALISTIC   SYSTEM. 

Many  wise  and  thoughtful  men  pass  a  condemnatory  judg- 
ment on  some  of  the  results  wrought  by  the  capitalistic  system. 
The  basis  of  their  judgment  is  a  priori  reasoning.  They  have 
neither  the  time  nor  the  inclination  to  investigate  into  the  his- 
torical development  of  industry,  and  trace  the  foundations  upon 
which  rests  our  economic  life.  Were  they  to  do  this,  their 
views  would  be  less  radical,  their  opinions  more  tempered  with 
reason,  and  their  judgments  more  just. 

Industrial  history  at  every  stage  reflects  the  moral  relations 
of  the  age.  The  public  conscience  acts  upon  industrial  life 
and  is  in  turn  acted  upon  by  it.  This  process  of  action  and 
reaction  is  the  method  of  development  of  commercial  ethics  and 
public  conscience.  Both  are  a  growth  and  represent  the  cumu- 
lative effects  of  centuries  of  civilization.  At  all  stages  there 
have  existed  ideal  industrial  relations  which  the  actual  are  ever 
pursuing,  but  never  reaching.  This  fact  is  represented  by  the 
relation  between  public  opinion  and  legal  enactments — the  one 
ever  keeps  in  advance  of  the  other.  Laws  passed  for  the  modi- 
fication of  the  economic  environment  are  only  reflections  of 
matured  opinions,  which  have  gradually  come  to  the  crystal- 
lized stage  by  the  action  of  an  enlightened  moral  sentiment. 
Before  positive  law  declares  what  is  right  and  just,  the  con- 
cepts for  years  and  perhaps  for  centuries  floated  in  the  air. 
One  of  the  distinctive  characteristics  of  genius  is  that  it  grasps 
these  nebulous  concepts  and  interprets  them  to  the  people  of 
its  time.  It  gives  expression  to  what  others  have  been  dream- 
ing about,  but  which,  up  to  that  hour,  none  could  propound. 
These  ideas  of  right  and  wrong,  when  once  they  become  artic- 
ulate, find  their  way  into  the  laws  of  nations  and  become  a 
part  of  their  industrial  life. 


230  THE   ANTHRACITE    COAL    INDUSTRY. 

When  this  historical  view  of  the  relation  of  economic  life 
and  moral  sentiment  is  taken,  a  more  temperate,  sympathetic 
and  sane  judgment  of  existing  industrial  conditions  is  attained. 
The  capitalistic  system  is  a  growth.  It  is  a  development.  It 
has  constantly  been  modified  by  the  demands  of  justice  and 
sympathy.  This  modification  is  still  going  on,  and  this  method 
of  reform  and  progress  which  our  fathers  trod,  is  the  sphere  of 
activity  for  moralists  and  economists  now-a-days.  The  duty 
imposed  upon  those  who  would  lead  has  been  well  expressed  by 
President  Hadley,  when  speaking  of  measuring  the  aggregate 
merit  of  the  total  system  of  industrial  life.  He  says :  "  The 
economist  with  his  scientific  knowledge  should  undertake  to 
realize  the  very  highest  ideals  as  a  scientific  man  who  stands 
above  the  clouds  of  prejudice  and  therefore  sees  farther  than 
those  about  him ;  it  is  his  high  mission  to  be  the  representative 
and  the  champion  of  the  permanent  interests  of  the  whole  com- 
munity in  the  face  of  conflicting  claims  from  representatives  of 
temporary  or  partial  ones." 

The  capitalistic  system  is  the  one  established  among  all  the 
civilized  nations  of  the  world,  and  is  the  highest  product  of  our 
civilization.  We  are  to  judge  it  by  its  results.  It  is  part  and 
parcel  of  our  institutions  and  its  influence  pervades  every  phase 
of  life.  It  is  not  the  only  one  known  to  man.  It  has  been 
preceded  by  the  domestic  and  the  feudal  systems,  and  it  may 
be  succeeded  by  others,  but  as  long  as  it  is  the  prevailing  one, 
industrial  relations  must  be  judged  by  it. 

The  leading  indictment  brought  against  the  capitalistic  sys- 
tem by  social  reformers  is,  the  great  inequalities  in  the  distri- 
bution of  wealth  which  take  place  under  it.  While  many  are 
struggling  hard  to  keep  the  wolf  from  the  door,  the  Standard 
Oil  Company  has,  since  the  autumn  of  1895,  disbursed  to  its 
stockholders  more  than  twice  its  capital  stock.  It  has  paid  40 
per  cent,  dividends  annually.  When  miners  work  in  the  coal 
fields  for  an  average  of  $35.00  a  month,  J.  P.  Morgan,  the 
banker,  made,  by  one  deal  in  anthracite  coal  property,  the  sum 
of  $2,300,000.  The  total  wages  paid  the  140,000  anthracite 
employes  for  two  weeks'  work  will  only  exceed  that  sum  by  a 


REFLECTIONS.  231 

few  thousand.  And  yet,  under  the  capitalistic  system,  both 
the  above  transactions  are  legal.  When  the  courts  of  New 
York  were  asked  to  issue  an  injunction  to  stop  the  consumma- 
tion of  Mr.  Morgan's  deal,  they  refused  to  do  so.  He  only 
made  9  per  cent,  on  the  transaction,  and  very  few  merchants 
will  be  found  who  conduct  business  on  so  close  a  margin. 
There  are  scores  of  miners  who  have  realized  40  per  cent, 
profit  on  an  investment  in  real  estate.  The  only  difference 
between  these  men  and  the  large  corporations  is  that  of  quan- 
tity and  not  of  quality.  In  the  one  case,  the  business  means  a 
few  hundred  or  thousand ;  in  the  other  it  amounts  to  millions. 
The  principle  upon  which  they  rest  is  the  very  same,  and  if  we 
condemn  the  one,  we  must  condemn  the  other.  Judged  by  our 
system,  there  is  no  escape  from  the  conclusion  that  in  an  open 
transaction  between  two  parties,  the  man  who  reaps  the  golden 
harvest  by  superior  genius  is  not  guilty  of  moral  misconduct. 
Socialists  of  various  shades  of  belief  say  the  capitalistic 
system  should  be  changed.  A  system  under  which  such  in- 
equalities exist  is  intrinsically  wrong.  Many  sober  men  have 
arrived  at  that  conclusion,  but  have  no  suggestion  to  offer  as  to 
how  the  change  can  be  effected.  France  tried  to  change  it  in 
a  day,  and  after  a  sacrifice  of  blood  and  wealth  which  appalled 
the  civilized  world,  returned  to  the  same  system  as  the  people 
tried  to  overthrow.  The  change  must  come  by  way  of  evo- 
lution and  not  by  revolution,  and  that  process  is  now  going  on. 
Germany  modifies  the  distribution  of  wealth  by  an  elaborate 
system  of  insurance  imposed  upon  the  people  by  imperial 
power.  England  and  the  United  States  would  not  tolerate 
such  an  iron-clad  system,  but  they  have  placed  checks  upon 
capitalists  in  the  form  of  legislative  restrictions,  which  diminish 
their  net  returns.  The  difficulty  of  the  problem  lies  in  devis- 
ing means  which  will  effect  a  more  equitable  distribution  of  the 
national  dividend,  and  at  the  same  time  not  diminish  the  total 
amount  of  productive  wealth.  Every  observer  knows  that  the 
wealth  of  the  world  has  increased  more  rapidly  under  the 
capitalistic  system  than  under  any  other.  By  its  impulse,  the 
command  to  subdue  the  earth  has  been  obeyed  more  thoroughly 


232  THE   ANTHRACITE   COAL,    INDUSTRY. 

than  ever  in  the  history  of  man.  It  involves  hardship,  but 
whether  the  sum  total  of  hardships  is  greater  than  under  former 
systems,  is  very  doubtful.  Progress  can  only  be  achieved  by 
toil  and  suffering.  It  is  comparatively  easy  to  make  a  cata- 
logue of  our  hardships  under  existing  industrial  conditions  for 
the  data  are  at  hand,  but  no  estimate  is  possible  of  the  aggre- 
gate suffering  of  humanity  under  former  systems.  We  may 
get  a  glimpse  at  them  by  terrible  famines  and  pestilences  that 
scourge  the  land,  which  to-day,  thanks  to  the  progress  of  the 
arts  and  sciences  under  the  capitalistic  system,  are  unknown. 

Suppose  we  throw  this  system  overboard,  what  shall  we 
substitute  in  its  place  ?  Shall  we  say  socialism,  and  turn  over 
all  productive  agencies  to  the  State  ?  Then  we  can  be  assured 
that  our  captains  of  industry  will  be  there.  Mark  Hanna  is 
on  top  in  affairs  of  State  as  well  as  in  industry.  Brain  and 
not  brawn  rules  the  world,  and  under  any  system  the  strong 
man  will  come  to  the  front  and  rule.  The  only  effective  way 
to  get  rid  of  him  is  that  of  Marat,  whose  maddening  cry 
"  equality "  sacrificed  some  of  the  brightest  intellects  of  France 
on  the  guillotine. 

The  words  of  Professor  J.  B.  Clarke,  spoken  recently  before 
the  Nineteenth  Century  Club  of  New  York,  are  worthy  of  con- 
sideration. "The  socialistic  programme  does  not  adequately 
provide  for  the  increase  of  wealth.  Great  profits  come  from 
improvements  and  a  machine  lives  to  good  old  age,  that  re- 
mains in  a  factory  to-day  till  it  is  worn  out.  As  between  a 
stationary  paradise  and  a  progressive  purgatory,  I  think  that 
purgatory  has  the  better  of  it.  We  must  judge  a  system  by 
its  fruit,  and  the  fact  is  that  the  more  wealth  there  is  in  the 
aggregate  the  better  is  the  workingman  off.  The  number  of 
millionaires  does  not  concern  the  workman  ;  what  does  concern 
him  is  that  the  wealth  is  drawn  out  of  present  non-existence 
and  is  not  stolen."  If  we  turn  to  communism  and  make  all 
wealth  the  common  property  of  all  regardless  of  their  contribu- 
tion to  the  social  organism,  we  immediately  take  away  the 
stimulus  to  production  and  saving,  and  soon  the  sources  of 
national  wealth  will  dry  up.  The  other  remedy  proposed  is 


REFLECTIONS.  233 

anarchy,  which  means  the  tearing  down  of  the  social  fabric 
which  has  been  laboriously  built  up  by  the  labor  of  a  hundred 
generations.  The  Anglo-Saxon  mind  is  intensely  practical  and 
temperate  and  none  of  the  above  remedies  will  be  adopted. 
The  capitalistic  system  is  in  our  present  stage  of  development 
necessary  to  national  prosperity.  What  we  need  is  to  put  bit 
and  bridle  upon  these  magnificent  combinations  of  wealth  which 
are  a  tribute  to  the  organizing  genius  of  our  nation,  and  make 
them  of  the  greatest  possible  service  while  not  impeding  their 
progress.  To  do  that  requires  time  and  patience,  but  the  ten- 
tative efforts  made  by  the  legislative  bodies  of  the  Anglo-Saxon 
nations,  show  that  the  tendency  of  the  times  is  in  that  direction. 
Legislation  has  done  much  to  modify  economic  environment 
and  make  the  life  of  producers  safer  and  more  sanitary.  It  is 
undoubtedly  possible  to  regulate  the  vast  aggregation  of  capital 
in  few  hands  so  as  to  make  it  less  menacing  to  the  public  weal. 
This  is  possible,  because  a  large  part  of  our  social  and  indus- 
trial life  is  the  artificial  creation  of  man.  The  advantages  en- 
joyed by  the  civilized,  over  those  of  the  savage,  lie  chiefly  in 
the  environment.  Our  children  in  their  games  and  in  the 
schools,  on  the  streets  and  in  the  homes,  come  daily  in  contact 
with  the  results  of  thousands  of  years  of  civilization  and  in 
this  way  they  are  largely  prepared,  by  unconscious  efforts,  to 
take  their  place  in  the  social  and  industrial  life  of  the  nation. 
The  differences  found  in  the  various  classes  of  society,  are  due 
more  to  the  difference  in  their  environments  than  to  anything 
else.  This  idea  accounts  for  the  movement  of  recent  times  to 
bring  the  privileges  of  our  public  school  education  within  reach 
of  all  children  regardless  of  rank  or  condition.  A  similar 
process  goes  on  in  leveling  up  and  down  the  economic  condi- 
tions of  industrial  life.  The  factory  laws,  mining  acts,  em- 
ployers7 liability  bills,  interstate  commerce  acts,  etc.,  all  have 
but  one  aim,  and  that  is  to  modify  the  conditions  under  which 
production  goes  on.  There  are  natural  forces  which  set  limits  to 
the  combinations  of  capital  and  labor,  but  as  we  modify  natural 
agencies,  so  also  can  we  modify  the  effects  of  economic  laws  by 
wise  and  benignant  statutes,  education,  and  public  sentiment. 


234  THE   ANTHRACITE    COAL    INDUSTRY. 

FACTS    WHICH    LABOR   OUGHT   TO    KNOW. 

Organized  labor  can  do  much  to  ameliorate  present  con- 
ditions, but  there  are  some  things  it  cannot  do.  It  cannot  find 
a  paradise,  where  all  the  necessaries  of  life  will  be  supplied 
without  work.  Laborers  must  bravely  and  frankly  admit  the 
patent  fact,  that  wealth  cannot  be  produced  save  by  hard  and 
constant  toil.  Cutting  coal  will  always  be  dirty,  disagreeable 
and  dangerous  work,  and  those  engaged  in  it  will  have  to  eke 
out  their  living  under  these  hard  conditions.  "  In  the  sweat 
of  thy  face  shalt  thou  eat  bread  "  is  the  universal  experience 
of  man. 

There  is  no  boundless  store  of  wealth  to  be  drawn  from 
save  that  produced  by  the  labor  of  our  hands.  Nature  does 
not  spread  a  bountiful  table  before  the  children  of  men,  leav- 
ing them  nothing  to  do  but  to  sit  at  the  feast.  All  such  ideas 
are  false  to  experience  and  history.  The  bread  we  eat,  the 
clothes  we  wear,  the  houses  which  shelter  us,  and  the  enjoyments 
of  life  are  all  paid  for  in  hard  toil.  They  come  by  subduing 
the  earth.  The  raw  material  of  the  earth  can  only  be  con- 
verted to  articles  useful  to  •  man  by  hardship  and  exertion. 
And  the  lot  assigned  to  the  vast  majority  of  the  children  of 
men  by  Divine  Providence  is  hard  work. 

If  this  be  acknowledged,  the  miner  will  perceive  that 
he  cannot  expect  full  pay  and  half  work.  The  man  who 
shirks  his  part  of  the  load  increases  the  part  carried  by  his 
neighbors.  Whoever  leads  an  idle  life  increases  the  burden 
borne  by  the  thrifty.  There  is  an  influential  circle  of  wise 
and  thoughtful  men  who  cherish  a  serious  objection  to  union- 
ism because  it  tends  to  discourage  productive  efficiency.  There 
are  unions  which  are  wholly  free  from  such  a  charge.  They 
have  studiously  aimed  at  raising  the  moral  and  industrial 
standard  of  their  members,  and  the  intelligence  and  strength 
of  the  men  prove  that  they  have  succeeded.  But  this  cannot 
be  said  of  all  combinations  of  labor.  There  are  those  who 
seek  their  interests,  not  in  doing  as  much  as  possible,  but 
as  little  as  possible.  The  capitalist  is  regarded  as  an  antago- 
nist, with  whom  a  hard  bargain  is  to  be  driven,  whereby  the 


REFLECTIONS.  235 

largest  possible  quantity  of  wealth  is  to  be  taken  from  his 
store,  and  the  least  possible  given  in  return.  Some,  indeed, 
think  it  no  robbery  to  take  wages  from  corporations  without 
an  equivalent  return  in  labor.  How  many  so  called  "  good 
men"  try  to  "beat"  the  boss  ?  None  knows  better  than  the 
honest  workman  how  many  despicable  schemes  there  are  of 
wasting  time,  and  a  large  class  thinks  it  no  wrong.  These 
men  don't  even  live  up  to  the  sentiment  of  the  old  English 

song 

"  Eight  hours  work,  eight  hours  play, 
Eight  hours  sleep,  and  eight  shillings  a  day." 

To  shirk  or  skimp  work,  to  drive  a  hard  bargain  with 
capital,  is  to  antagonize  the  consumer,  and  short  services  given 
to  him  will  react  on  both  capital  and  labor.  Labor  leaders 
have  a  grave  responsibility  in  this  regard.  To  delineate 
Utopias  and  to  persuade  laborers  that  all  can  live  in  ease  and 
comfort  with  little  work,  is  to  feed  the  people  on  wind.  Their 
effort  should  be  to  increase  the  moral  and  industrial  character 
of  their  followers,  and  thus  increase  their  industrial  efficiency. 
They  then  will  build  wisely  and  on  a  sure  foundation  ;  for  they 
serve  the  public  good.  But  if,  on  the  other  hand,  they  culti- 
vate a  disposition  to  rely  upon  the  union  to  drive  a  hard  bar- 
gain with  capital,  and  forget  to  cultivate  the  old  virtues  of 
frugality,  temperance,  integrity  and  strength,  the  labor  of 
their  hands  will  not  be  established,  and  they  will  inevitably 
forfeit  the  possibilities  of  good  contained  in  unionism. 

Labor,  in  order  to  wisely  defend  its  rights  and  preserve 
them,  must  have  regard  for  the  laws  governing  the  industrial 
world,  and  which  set  limits  to  the  activities  of  men.  Every 
thoughtful  observer  intimate  with  the  laboring  classes  is  made 
to  feel  that  many  erroneous  views  on  economics  prevail  among 
them.  Arnold  Toynbee,  to  whom  "  economic  problems  were 
pregnated  with  the  fates  of  the  suffering  toilers  whom  he  knew 
so  well,"  felt  that  the  centers  of  industry  should  be  reached  by 
the  intellect  of  the  universities,  and  that  by  inspiring  and  in- 
structive lectures,  the  working  classes  should  be  taught  the 
principles  of  Political  Economy,  that  they  may  turn  them  to 


236  THE    ANTHRACITE    COAL    INDUSTRY. 

good  account.  This  line  of  work  has  been  introduced  and  is 
effective  in  brushing  away  the  cobwebs  woven  by  shallow  re- 
formers and  demagogues.  It  needs  to  be  more  intensively  propa- 
gated. If  the  labor  organizations  were  to  open  their  doors  for 
discussions  of  this  nature,  profit  must  necessarily  accrue  to 
them  and  to  society.  Wise  and  far-sighted  leaders  in  unionism 
would  strengthen  their  cause  by  favoring  such  discussions, 
which  would  widen  the  horizon  of  the  labor  world  and  quicken 
its  intellect.  Much  time  and  strength  in  local  unions  is  now 
consumed  in  petty  details,  trivial  disputes  and  useless  dis- 
cussions. Better  use  could  be  made  of  this  store  of  energy  by 
the  discussion  of  Economics  on  their  social  side,  which  are  of 
vital  concern  to  the  working  classes.  Whatever  permanent 
good  we  attain  must  comprise  internal  as  well  as  external  ele- 
ments. It  is  good  to  change  the  environment,  but  it  is  better 
to  change  the  man. 

All  the  agitators  in  the  anthracite  coal  fields,  without  a  single 
exception,  spoke  of  the  wrongs  of  the  system  of  production, 
but  none  of  them  spoke  of  the  deeper  wrongs  in  the  produc- 
tion of  the  genus  homo  in  mining  communities.  It  was  a 
favorite  theme  of  theirs  to  dwell  on  the  wife  and  the  family, 
but  they  never  touched  upon  the  question  of  the  relation  of 
large  families  to  the  social  and  industrial  welfare  of  the  work- 
ing classes.  The  procreative  energy  of  the  mining  classes  was 
often  the  subject  of  rude  jest,  but  none  touched  on  the  influence 
of  surplus  labor  on  the  rate  of  wages.  The  standard  of  living 
was  depicted  as  miserable  and  mean,  and  wholly  due  to  the 
low  wages  the  men  earned,  when  intelligent  workmen  knew  well 
that  some  of  the  best  kept  homes  had  the  smallest  income,  while 
some  of  the  most  slovenly  and  miserable  received  the  highest. 
Professor  Sumner,  of  Yale  University,  says  no  law  is  more 
clearly  taught  by  the  history  of  human  progress  than  that  "  the 
number  of  men  and  the  quality  of  men  limit  each  other."  This 
great  law  operates  at  every  stage  of  the  world's  history.  It 
is  seen  in  the  savage,  barbaric,  pastoral,  agricultural,  as  well 
as  in  the  industrial  stage.  If  the  people  consume  their  strength 
in  numbers,  then  conflict,  hardship,  suffering  and  death  is  the 


[REFLECTIONS.  237 

result  sooner  or  later,  accompanied  with  a  deterioration  of  the 
species.  The  quantity  of  human  energy  is  limited,  just  the 
same  as  all  other  force  is,  and  it  is  a  question  of  great  impor- 
tance to  all,  whether  we  consume  our  strength  in  numbers,  or 
reserve  a  part  to  improve  the  quality  of  the  stock.  Which  is 
the  better,  to  get  more  men  or  better  men  ?  That  question  has 
been  long  discussed  by  philosophers ;  the  working  classes  of 
mining  communities  need  to  discuss  it,  for  it  is  of  far  graver 
consequence  to  them  than  it  ever  can  be  to  philosophers.  J. 
S.  Mill  said  that  the  man  who  begets  children  without  adequate 
means  to  properly  provide  for  their  needs,  was  as  great  a  curse 
to  society  as  the  drunkard. 

Another  fact  which  must  be  acknowledged  is,  that  improved 
social  conditions  will  not  necessarily  lead  to  paradise.  Good 
homes,  good  clothes,  abundance  of  good  things  and  plenty  of 
amusement  will  not  bring  the  millennium.  Let  the  wages  of 
men  be  increased  ever  so  much,  that  will  not  of  itself  bring  an 
ideal  social  condition.  Increased  comfort  may  work  in  two 
ways  :  it  may  bring  improvement  or  deterioration.  The  boun- 
tiful bread-tree  which  furnished  the  Samoan  islander  abundant 
provision  without  work,  has  not  made  him  the  leader  in  the 
civilization  of  the  world.  Something  more  than  bread  and 
good  cheer  is  needed  to  improve  society. 

There  is  an  ethical  factor  in  the  computation  which  cannot  be 
left  out.  Industrial  independence  without  moral  freedom  may 
be  the  beginning  of  a  great  tragedy.  The  old  Workingmen's 
Benevolent  Association  was  able  to  raise  wages,  but  that  did  not 
save  it  from  destruction.  Indeed,  the  years  of  prosperity  were 
the  years  of  disintegration  and  the  rocks  upon  which  it  was 
wrecked  were  moral  and  not  material.  Greed,  distrust,  arro- 
gance, treachery,  extravagance  and  lawlessness  came  in,  and  no 
combination  of  men  can  hold  together  long  when  these  disrup- 
tive forces  enter.  The  same  is  true  also  of  the  effort  of  union- 
ism in  1884-1888.  If  unionism  in  the  anthracite  coal  fields 
teaches  one  lesson  more  clearly  than  any  other,  it  is  that  greater 
attention  must  be  given  to  improve  man  as  well  as  raise  the 
rate  of  wages.  The  amelioration  of  the  working  classes  must 


238  THE   ANTHRACITE    COAL    INDUSTRY. 

stand  on  two  feet,  the  economical  and  the  ethical.  Use  both 
and  there  is  progress  which  is  sure  and  permanent.  Stand  on 
the  economic  only  and  whatever  material  improvement  is  se- 
cured will  only  be  temporary  and  ephemeral. 

The  task  of  leading  men  to  a  true  appreciation  of  the  qual- 
ities of  temperance,  moral  and  intellectual  improvement,  is 
difficult  and  requires  courage  and  perseverance.  Men  more 
readily  appreciate  a  dollar's  advance  in  wages  than  the  value 
of  thrift  and  industry,  intelligence  and  integrity,  and  yet  in  the 
business  of  life,  the  latter  qualities  are  beyond  price.  Men 
need  education  to  set  the  right  value  on  moral  good.  In  the 
work  of  controlling  and  subduing  the  forces  of  nature,  more 
and  more  emphasis  is  placed  on  the  old  qualities  of  honesty, 
truthfulness  and  temperance.  In  the  progress  of  industry, 
when  large  aggregations  of  men  are  needed  to  conduct  business, 
to  what  ingenious  devices  men  resort  to  guard  against  theft  and 
fraud  !  And  what  a  comment  is  all  this  upon  the  moral  fiber 
of  humanity  engaged  in  trade !  There  is  abundant  wealth  in 
the  world,  but  there  is  a  scarcity  of  honest,  reliable  and  trust- 
worthy men  to  handle  it.  Labor  organizations  will  be  bene- 
fited when  these  intangible  qualities  shall  occupy  a  prominent 
place  in  their  program.  The  fabric  of  the  institution  must  be 
built  of  moral  elements  if  it  is  to  stand  the  test  of  conflict  and 
the  trials  of  time. 

Labor  also  will  do  well  to  duly  appreciate  and  honor  its  cap- 
tains of  industry.  They  are  men  worthy  of  admiration  and 
praise.  No  machine  can  ever  be  invented  to  take  their  place. 
The  able  man  in  every  crisis  is  relied  upon ;  he  is  the  leader 
and  others  find  their  safety  and  profit  in  following  him.  That 
is  the  meaning  of  king.  We  have  them  to-day  in  every  depart- 
ment of  human  activity,  and  by  the  law  of  natural  selection 
they  rule.  Many  imagine  that  wealth  and  ability  do  not  go 
together.  Their  observation  is  superficial.  Two  sets  of  forces 
are  at  work,  the  one  increasing  the  capital  at  the  command  of 
the  able  man,  and  the  other  destroying  the  capital  that  is  in  the 
hands  of  the  weaker  man,  bringing  about  the  result  that  there 
is  a  far  closer  correspondence  between  the  ability  of  business 


REFLECTIONS.  239 

men  and  the  size  of  the  business  which  they  own,  than  at  first 
sight  would  appear  probable.  You  cannot  get  industrial  skill 
and  ability  without  the  broad  faculties  of  promptness,  judg- 
ment, resource,  and  steadiness  of  purpose  accompanying  them. 
These  powers  command  a  high  price  because  they  are  rare. 
You  can  get  many  to  direct  profitably  the  labor  of  ten  men, 
but  very  few  are  they  who  can  do  so  with  ten  thousand  men. 
Great  captains  of  industry  are  as  rare  as  great  generals.  So- 
ciety profits  by  the  work  of  intellectual  giants,  who  conduct 
great  enterprises,  augment  industrial  efficiency,  and  increase  the 
national  dividend. 

Never  in  the  history  of  the  world  have  such  bold  schemes  of 
commerce,  industry,  and  finance  been  launched  upon  the  tides 
of  life,  as  by  the  master  minds  of  our  country.  Their  reward  is 
great,  but  it  comes  to  them  because  of  the  public  demand  for  their 
service.  It  is  the  tribute  paid  to  ability.  These  men  by  tele- 
phone and  telegraph  have  moored  the  continents  of  the  earth 
side  by  side.  Famine  and  pestilence  are  unknown  among  us, 
but  less  than  a  century  ago  these  terrible  scourges  were  a  con- 
stant dread  to  the  leading  nations  of  the  world.  We  have  con- 
quered them  because  the  organizing  genius  of  the  last  century 
spanned  the  continent  with  bars  of  steel,  bound  the  ends  of  the 
earth  with  threads  of  copper,  and  made  the  lightning  flash  its 
speaking  trumpet.  Could  the  anthracite  coal  fields  have  been 
developed  without  the  energy,  the  pluck  and  industry  of  the 
pioneers  who  developed  the  veins,  financiered  the  railroad  sys- 
tems and  canals,  and  opened  up  the  markets  for  the  production 
of  the  collieries?  The  picturesque  figure  of  old  Col.  Shoe- 
maker, who,  hauling  coal  over  a  hundred  miles  to  Philadelphia 
and  giving  most  of  it  away,  beats  a  hasty  retreat  pursued  by  a 
writ  charging  him  with  being  a  knave  and  a  scoundrel  for  hav- 
ing palmed  "  rocks"  on  the  good  Quaker  people  for  coals — that 
is  representative  of  the  courage,  perseverance  and  hardship  of 
these  pioneers  in  the  anthracite  industry.  Suppose  the  entre- 
preneurs of  the  coal  industry  of  to-day  were  removed,  how 
much  would  the  140,000  employes  be  able  to  do?  In  the  evo- 
lution of  industry  we  learn  after  many  costly  experiences,  that 


240  THE   ANTHRACITE    COAL    INDUSTRY. 

great  industries  cannot  be  managed  by  boards  and  committees. 
If  they  are  to  be  successful,  they  must  be  put  under  one  head 
— a  master  mind.  The  same  is  true  everywhere,  and  this  im- 
portant fact  accounts  in  large  part  for  the  growth  of  trusts, 
combinations,  syndicates,  etc.  All  honor  then  to  the  strong 
man — the  man  of  brains  who  engineers  and  supervises  large 
industries.  He  renders  invaliiable  service  to  society,  and  his 
name  is  a  tower  of  strength  in  the  financial  world. 

Labor  should  also  preserve  its  union,  for  it  needs  the  ad- 
vantages and  benefits  derived  from  organization.  The  laws 
which  govern  the  economic  world  are  the  same  in  character  as 
those  of  the  natural — they  wholly  disregard  the  claims  of 
morality.  Competition,  supply  and  demand,  diminishing  re- 
turns, etc.,  do  not  in  themselves  ask  what  is  the  physical  and 
moral  character  of  those  under  their  influence.  Under  compe- 
tition, the  higher  nature  of  man  is  ever  liable  to  fall  below  the 
standard  set  by  public  opinion,  and  the  men  who  preserve 
their  integrity  under  the  stress  of  business  life,  have  achieved 
a  triumph  in  moral  discipline  which  seldom  comes  to  those  in 
the  ordinary  walks  of  life.  The  conditions  of  the  game  in 
which  capital  and  labor  are  engaged  are  often  hard  and  exacting, 
but  they  are  the  only  means  by  which  success  is  possible.  The 
attempts  made  to  couple  philanthropy  with  business  have  not 
been  encouraging.  Under  very  favorable  conditions  it  has 
been  done,  but  most  of  the  experiments  were  wrecked  by  the 
action  of  economic  forces.  In  the  domestic  system,  when  the 
producers  were  a  part  of  the  family  of  the  employer,  consider- 
ations of  sympathy  and  fellowship  largely  entered  into  business. 
To-day,  when  vast  accumulations  of  wealth  are  under  the  con- 
trol of  one  mind,  and  international  lines  are  disregarded  in 
industrial  combinations,  the  capitalist  does  not  exercise  the 
paternal  care  that  he  formerly  did.  We  may  regret  this,  but 
it  is  the  necessary  result  of  industrial  progress  and  personal 
freedom.  Under  slavery  and  serfdom,  medicine,  food,  shelter 
and  clothing  were  assured  the  slaves  and  serfs ;  to-day,  men 
get  their  wages  and  satisfy  their  own  wants.  Our  system  may 
involve  many  in  greater  hardships  than  the  former,  but  no  one 


REFLECTIONS.  241 

will  assert  that  it  is  not  an  advancement.  It  seems  to  be  a 
law  that  increased  productive  efficiency  under  monopolies 
limits  considerations  of  sympathy  between  capital  and  labor. 
Hence  we  find  that  monopoly  will  not  generally  yield  its  pound 
of  flesh  unless  pressure  is  brought  to  bear  upon  it ;  and  what 
good  labor  combinations  can  accomplish  is  to  enforce  monopoly 
to  yield  what  public  justice  demands.  This  the  miners  tried 
to  do  in  a  bungling  way  by  the  Workingmen's  Benevolent 
Association.  Wages  were  raised  when  pressure  was  brought  to 
bear  upon  the  operators.  Laws  for  the  safety  of  life  and  limb 
were  enacted  when  combined  labor  presented  its  claim.  The 
company  store  and  petty  tyrannies  went  to  hiding  when  labor 
presented  a  solid  front.  There  are  many  good  and  upright 
men  among  the  operators  and  capitalists,  but  somehow — possibly 
because  of  the  inherent  frailties  of  human  nature — they  do  not 
generally  concede  to  labor  its  rights,  unless  a  well-regulated 
machine  stimulates  their  moral  sluggishness.  Indeed,  we  may 
conceive  of  circumstances  under  which  men  of  unquestioned 
integrity  may  not  be  able  to  execute  the  dictates  of  their  moral 
nature.  They  have  to  compete  with  unscrupulous  men,  who 
cherish  no  regard  for  industrial  honor  or  moral  sentiment,  and 
thus  may  be  compelled  to  lower  the  rate  of  wages  or  change 
the  conditions  if  they  stay  in  the  business.  Unionism  is  the 
force  necessary  to  bring  up  these  moral  stragglers  into  line, 
and  impose  upon  them  conditions  which  the  best  men  in  the 
trade  desire  perpetuated. 

Professor  A.  Marshall,  of  Oxford,  England,  admirably  sets 
forth  this  point  by  delineating  the  unfair  master,  who  "  en- 
deavors to  make  his  profits  not  so  much  by  able  and  energetic 
management  of  his  business  as  by  paying  for  labor  at  a  lower 
rate  than  his  competitors — he  screws  a  little  here  and  a  little 
there — and  makes  it  more  difficult  for  other  employers  in  the 
same  trade  to  go  on  paying  straightforwardly  and  full  rates. 
It  is  this  unfairness  of  bad  masters  which  makes  trade  unions 
necessary  and  gives  them  their  chief  force." 

We  heard  many  of  the  labor  leaders  in  the  course  of  their 
addresses  say  that  labor  had  the  right  to  strike,  that  it  was  its 
16 


242  THE   ANTHRACITE   COAL    INDUSTRY. 

implement  of  war  and  should  not  be  given  up.  They  were 
undoubtedly  right.  A  strike  is  resort  to  industrial  warfare, 
which  is  full  of  suffering  and  loss,  but  there  are  circumstances 
under  which  no  other  remedy  is  left  for  existing  evils.  We 
know  not  what  the  future  may  contain ;  let  us  hope  that  a  day 
will  dawn  when  there  will  be  no  war  of  any  kind  ;  but  human 
nature  being  what  it  is,  and  industrial  conditions  as  they  are  at 
present,  there  is  very  little  hope  of  ridding  ourselves  of  an  oc- 
casional resort  to  industrial  conflict  in  order  to  rectify  prevail- 
ing abuses. 

Human  nature  must  be  radically  changed  before  industrial 
war  will  cease.  Strikes  then  will  have  their  place  in  the  pro- 
gram of  labor  organizations,  but  they  should  not  find  room  in 
the  first  or  second  part  of  it.  They  serve  their  purpose  best  as 
a  potential  force  in  the  background.  The  capitalists  should 
know  that  the  weapon  is  in  the  arsenal  of  labor,  and  can  be 
brought  to  play  with  terrific  effect  in  case  of  emergency,  but 
that  in  the  foreground  it  puts  boards  of  conciliation  and  arbi- 
tration. Labor  organizations  cannot  afford  to  give  their  mem- 
bers and  the  public  the  impression  that  the  prime  object  of 
their  existence  is  to  precipitate  a  strike.  Combinations  of 
either  capital  or  labor  which  exist  for  war  or  pillage  have  not 
succeeded.  Monopolies  which  have  selfishness  as  their  founda- 
tion and  greed  as  their  walls,  must  fail.  Economic  laws  and 
moral  sentiments  wage  war  against  them,  and  there  is  but  one 
result  to  the  conflict.  The  conditions  of  life  are  public  service. 
This  is  the  condition  of  perpetuation  to  the  United  Mine 
Workers.  They  cannot  put  monopoly  prices  on  labor  in  and 
around  the  mines.  To  attempt  to  do  it  would  be  a  serious 
mistake.  The  scheme  must  fail,  for  economic  laws  are  against 
them.  If  they  succeed  to-day,  to-morrow  they  must  pay  the 
penalty.  The  old  guild  systems  tried  to  maintain  a  labor 
monopoly  and  failed,  although  they  had  many  legislative  and 
traditional  advantages  which  modern  labor  does  not  possess. 
As  monopolies  they  refused  to  serve  the  public  and  they  were 
swept  away  by  forces  they  were  helpless  to  resist.  The  sugar 
and  copper  syndicates  of  modern  times  are  notorious  examples 


REFLECTIONS.  243 

of  failures  on  the  capitalistic  side,  due  to  the  same  cause. 
There  is  no  other  outcome  for  monopolies  which  disregard  eco- 
nomic laws  and  violate  the  dictates  of  commercial  ethics. 

If  labor  combinations  are  to  succeed  they  must  learn  lessons 
from  past  experience.  There  was  one  excellent  feature  in  the 
old  Workingmen's  Benevolent  Association  which  is  wholly 
wanting  in  the  present  labor  organization.  It  had  a  good 
scheme  of  insurance  against  accident,  sickness  and  death.  One 
of  its  avowed  objects  was  to  care  for  the  fatherless  and  widow, 
and  see  that  none  of  its  members,  or  any  dependent  upon 
them,  should  suffer  the  want  of  any  good  thing  while  incapaci- 
tated from  either  sickness  or  accident. 

Expenditures  for  accident  and  sickness  occupy  a  prominent 
place  in  the  financial  records  of  the  successful  trades  unions 
now-a-days. 

This  is  wise  and  could  be  well  adopted  by  the  United  Mine 
Workers.  There  are  some  excellent  insurance  schemes  now 
in  operation  in  the  anthracite  coal  fields  which  we  shall  speak 
of  in  the  second  part  of  our  study,  but  these  are  not  general 
throughout  the  collieries.  The  union  could,  by  a  little  effort, 
secure  the  general  adoption  of  the  best  of  these.  The  organizers 
believe  that  the  dues  of  members  should  be  collected  through 
the  office  of  the  several  mining  companies ;  if  an  insurance 
feature  were  introduced  this  could  be  more  easily  done.  Union- 
ism would  be  strengthened  by  the  insurance  feature ;  it  would 
add  to  the  sense  of  responsibility  of  employes,  furnish  a  bond 
of  union  that  intensifies  the  elements  of  sympathy  and  fraternity, 
and  divert  attention  from  conflict  about  the  rate  of  wages. 

The  union  will  have  to  guard  against  foes  from  without  and 
enemies  from  within.  The  operators  do  not  want  labor  combi- 
nations, and  one  of  the  ways  whereby  they  defeat  them  is  to  en- 
list on  their  side  some  of  the  leaders  by  flattering  offers.  Poli- 
ticians are  generally  fervent  admirers  of  combinations  of  labor, 
and  so  are  buzzards  of  carrion.  There  were  many  political  as- 
pirants in  the  ranks  of  labor  when  unionism  was  in  its  glory  in 
1848-1860,  1868-1875  and  1886-1888.  The  same  will  un- 
doubtedly be  true  of  the  United  Mine  Workers,  and  to  steer 


244  THE   ANTHRACITE    COAL   INDUSTRY. 

clear  of  political  reefs  will  require  careful  management.  The 
union  will  doubtless  invoke  the  aid  of  the  Legislature  to  render 
more  effective  its  principles,  and  there  will  be  no  dearth  of  can- 
didates to  serve  its  purpose.*  We  saw  that  legislative  enact- 
ments have  brought  about  both  good  and  bad  results.  Laws 
are  two-edged  swords  ;  they  often  cut  in  a  way  never  antici- 
pated by  those  who  originated  them.  Some  acts  have  brought 
far  greater  injury  than  benefit  to  miners.  Laws  require  great 
skill  in  framing,  and  when  the  keenest  intellects  have  drafted 
them,  it  is  possible,  as  an  eminent  English  statesman  once  said, 
to  drive  a  coach  and  pair  through  them. 

Healthy  public  sentiment  and  a  well-organized  combination 
will  be  a  far  better  bulwark  against  the  encroachments  of  cap- 
ital than  any  law  passed  at  Harrisburg.  Something  more  than 
acts  of  legislature  is  necessary  to  secure  the  rights  of  mine  em- 
ployes. Before  legislative  codes  can  be  enforced,  there  must 
be  an  active  public  conscience  behind  them.  The  United  Mine 
Workers,  then,  must  never  relax  their  vigilance  and  fall  into  a 
disorganized  condition,  thinking  that  the  machinery  of  State  set 
in  motion  by  them  will  care  for  their  interests.  Men  too  often 
make  too  much  of  machinery  and  believe  that  they  can  be  saved 
by  institutions  rather  than  by  character,  and  the  only  safe  way 
for  the  present  labor  organization  to  guard  against  dangers  from 
without  and  within  is,  by  creating  a  public  spirit  which  will 
shape  its  course  on  the  basis  of  conviction  that  is  in  harmony 
with  natural  ethics. 

POSSIBLE   IMPROVEMENTS    BY   THE   SYNDICATE. 

We  can  confidently  look  forward  to  the  introduction  of  many 
reforms  by  the  Syndicate  which  now  virtually  controls  the 
anthracite  coal  industry  of  northeastern  Pennsylvania.  This 
great  combination  of  capitalists  will  undoubtedly  introduce 
many  improvements  which  will  result  in  better  industrial  con- 
ditions for  the  mine  workers,  and  a  more  profitable  use  of  the 
capital  invested  in  the  industry. 

*  In  the  last  session  of  the  Legislature  of  Pennsylvania,  the  United  Mine 
Workers  had  seven  bills  which  they  desired  enacted.  Three  of  the  seven 
passed  the  House  and  Senate  and  will  become  laws  on  January  1,  1902. 


REFLECTIONS.  245 

The  Anthracite  Syndicate  will  enforce  stricter  discipline. 
When  we  read  the  following  words  in  the  last  report  of  the 
Chief  Inspector  of  the  Bureau  of  Mines  :  "  It  is  the  opinion  of 
the  mine  inspectors,  in  which  I  concur,  that  from  50  to  75 
per  cent,  of  the  accidents  are  due  to  the  carelessness  of  the  vic- 
tims themselves,"  it  needs  no  expert  knowledge  of  the  conditions 
of  anthracite  mining  to  see  that  there  is  gross  neglect  of  disci- 
pline in  the  management  of  many  of  these  collieries,  which  is 
partly  responsible  for  this  lamentable  carelessness  in  providing 
adequate  means  for  the  safety  of  life  and  limb.  This  conviction 
is  confirmed  by  the  fact  that  the  inspectors  have  constantly  to  in- 
sist upon  the  observance  of  mining  laws  and  regulations,  which 
are  either  neglected  or  violated  by  many  individual  and  cor- 
porate operators.  All  operators  are  not  equally  culpable  in 
this  regard.  It  is  the  experience  of  mine  inspectors  and  other 
persons  familiar  with  the  operation  of  anthracite  collieries,  that 
corporations  observe  the  State  laws  for  the  regulation  of  the 
mining  industry  far  better  than  individual  operators.  The 
reason  for  this  is  apparent.  Strict  discipline  is  essential  to  the 
very  existence  of  a  corporation.  These  large  aggregations  of 
capital  take  upon  themselves  the  character  of  an  army,  where 
discipline  is  carried  to  its  highest  perfection.  The  present 
Syndicate  in  amount  of  wealth  and  control  of  territory  far  ex- 
ceeds any  corporation  formerly  organized  in  the  anthracite  in- 
dustry, and  we  can  safely  predict  that  the  discipline  which  it 
will  introduce  into  its  mines  will  be  more  perfect  than  any- 
thing thus  far  seen  in  the  collieries.  Can  we  not  hopefully 
look  forward  to  a  reduction  in  the  number  of  accidents  from 
such  an  improvement  ?  Legislative  enactments  have  had  very 
little  effect  in  this  respect.  We  look  with  greater  confidence 
to  the  introduction  of  better  discipline  by  the  syndicate  which 
may  prove  an  effective  means  of  reducing  the  annual  waste  in 
flesh  and  blood  in  this  industry. 

The  Syndicate  will  also  introduce  improved  methods  in  the 
art  of  mining.  It  will  be  able  to  command  the  best  engineer- 
ing talent  in  the  country.  Whatever  schemes  the  ingenuity  of 
these  scientifically  trained  men  may  suggest  in  order  to  reduce 


246  THE   ANTHRACITE   COAL    INDUSTRY. 

the  cost  of  production,  the  necessary  capital  will  be  at  hand  to 
carry  into  operation.  Great  improvements  have  been  effected 
in  the  last  decade  in  mechanical  appliances  in  and  around  the 
breaker.  Labor-saving  machinery  has  been  introduced,  which 
not  only  dispenses  with  a  large  number  of  employes,  but  also 
does  the  work  better  than  the  human  machine.  These  improve- 
ments have  been  most  realized  in  breakers  operated  by  the  large 
corporations.  They  have  the  highest  mechanical  skill  in  their 
employ,  as  well  as  the  necessary  capital  to  realize  the  inven- 
tions. There  is  no  doubt  but  that  great  improvements  can  also 
be  introduced  underground.  The  art  of  mining  has  not  been 
perfected  by  any  means.  The  skill  of  mining  engineers  has  not 
been  exhausted.  In  the  last  decade  more  attention  has  been 
given  to  perfecting  machinery  on  the  surface  than  underground. 
There  are  at  present  signs  of  a  change  of  policy.  More  atten- 
tion is  given  to  improvement  in  the  art  of  mining,  and  there  is 
reason  to  believe  that  this  will  be  the  line  of  operation  of  the 
men  in  control  of  the  syndicate  collieries.  Some  far-sighted 
and  enterprising  superintendents  in  charge  of  collieries  predict 
a  complete  revolution  in  the  art  of  mining  in  the  next  decade. 
These  men  are  not  given  to  dreams.  They  are  wide-awake  and 
practical  men,  and  their  predictions  are  based  on  practicable 
schemes  which  only  lack  the  necessary  amount  of  capital  to 
put  them  in  operation.  This  deficiency  the  Syndicate  will  sup- 
ply. No  scheme  that  has  in  it  the  promise  of  increased  returns 
will  fall  to  the  ground  for  lack  of  capital  when  once  the  An- 
thracite Syndicate  is  in  full  control.  Improvements  are  now 
under  way  in  some  collieries,  which,  when  perfected,  will  do 
away  with  nearly  all  the  mules  and  the  drivers  underground. 
This  may  be  regarded  as  a  prophecy  of  the  future.  With  com- 
pressed air,  electricity  and  increased  engineering  skill,  great 
progress  can  be  expected  in  the  art  of  mining  in  the  near  future. 
Better  administration  will  also  be  introduced.  Our  study 
has  shown  what  great  waste  in  money  and  energy  took  place  in 
the  anthracite  industry  when  conflict  of  interests  prevailed. 
The  competition  of  the  Schuylkill  operators  and  those  of  the 
Wyoming  Valley  in  the  sixties  was  the  ruin  of  scores  of  capi- 


REFLECTIONS.  247 

talists.  Last  year  the  individual  operators  of  Lackawanna  and 
Luzerne  counties  formed  an  association  for  the  purpose  of  con- 
structing a  railroad  from  the  Wyoming  Valley  to  tide-water. 
Their  purpose  was  only  abandoned  when  the  controlling  mind 
of  the  Syndicate  successfully  brought  about  a  compromise,  by 
advancing  the  prices  paid  for  coal  at  the  individual  collieries  5 
per  cent.  This  one  act  of  far-sighted  policy  saved  to  society  a 
needless  expenditure  of  between  $6,000,000  and  $7,000,000. 
The  conflict  of  interests  in  any  industry  means  waste  of  mind 
and  money.  It  engenders  friction,  which  retards  motion  and 
defeats  success.  Professor  W.  G.  Sumner,  after  a  life-long 
study  of  ancient,  mediaeval  and  modern  society  in  its  economic, 
political  and  social  activity,  says :  "  Every  prosperous  insti- 
tution must  embrace  interests  that  are  reduced  to  harmony ; 
if  not  there  will  be  unrest,  agitation  and  change  until  har- 
mony is  reached ;  but  while  there  is  agitation  in  the  insti- 
tution its  successful  operation  is  hindered."  This  law  the 
capitalist  in  the  anthracite  coal  industry  is  learning  after  a 
century  of  costly  experience,  accompanied  by  untold  suffering 
and  loss.  The  Syndicate  is  bent  on  harmonizing  the  interests 
of  capitalists  by  placing  one  master  mind  in  control.  Affairs 
will  be  so  administered  that  an  annual  saving  will  be  effected 
in  supplies,  in  clerical  work,  in  railroad  transportation  and  at 
the  terminals.  We  believe  it  will  also  attempt  to  harmonize 
the  interests  of  laborers,  and  it  can  be  done  providing  the  work- 
ingmen  will  be  amenable  to  the  dictates  of  reason.  Concession 
and  conciliation  in  both  capitalists  and  laborers  are  favorable 
to  harmony  of  interests.  When  both  parties  to  the  game  un- 
derstand that  the  success  of  the  one  is  the  success  of  the  other, 
prosperity  will  follow.  The  words  of  Bastiat  spoken  to  French 
workmen  the  first  half  of  the  last  century  are  still  appropriate 
to  the  men  of  to-day.  He  said  :  "  Men  of  toil  .  .  .  the  prog- 
ress of  man  is  unequal  indeed  .  .  .  [but]  no  step  of  progress, 
even  though  prompted  by  the  conscious  striving  for  property, 
but  it  is  a  step  of  progress  for  you.  No  wealth  is  created 
which  does  not  tend  to  enrich  you,  no  property  is  acquired 
which  .does  not  tend  to  enlarge  your  own  liberties.  For  the 


248  THE   ANTHRACITE   COAL    INDUSTRY. 

order  of  things  is  so  arranged  that  no  man  can  work  honestly 
for  himself  without  at  the  same  time  working  for  all." 

The  Syndicate  will  also  either  abolish  or  improve  the  com- 
pany store.  The  abuses  which  have  clustered  around  this  insti- 
tution as  conducted  by  individual  operators  have  produced  in 
the  hearts  of  workingmen  uncompromising  hostility  to  it.  The 
cry  of  most  employes  under  the  system  has  been  and  still  is, 
"  Abolish  the  company  store."  Yet  this  persistent  opposition 
should  not  blind  us  to  the  fact  that  a  syndicate  could  take  hold 
of  the  institution  and  make  it  a  benefit  and  an  accommodation 
to  the  men.  There  are  throughout  the  anthracite  coal  fields 
scores  of  buildings  admirably  constructed  and  well  equipped 
for  the  purpose  of  conducting  a  store  of  general  merchandise. 
If  the  Syndicate  abolishes  the  company  store  these  buildings 
and  furnishings  will  be  little  better  than  useless.  Why  could 
not  these  appliances  be  turned  into  good  use  by  conducting 
therein  a  general  merchandise  business  wholly  separated  from 
the  mining  industry  ?  One  thing  is  certain,  namely,  that  under 
Syndicate  control  favoritism  in  the  mines  will  not  be  tolerated. 
The  men  who  showed  favor  to  those  dealing  in  the  company 
stores  possessed  souls  singed  by  greed  and  scorched  by  avarice. 
It  was  a  mean  and  sordid  business  and  a  constant  source  of 
irritation  to  the  thrifty  employe.  The  Syndicate  will  not  stoop 
to  such  a  despicable  scheme  to  reap  profits.  The  men  in  it  are 
above  such  picayune  devices.  If  it  entered  this  line  of  busi- 
ness the  stores  would  be  conducted  on  strictly  business  prin- 
ciples. It  could  make  money  and  at  the  same  time  offer  the 
workingmen  a  greater  variety  and  better  assortment  of  com- 
modities than  they  could  otherwise  get  in  small  mining  towns. 
The  Syndicate  would  have  many  advantages  in  buying.  The 
quantities  it  would  purchase  could  be  secured  by  its  agents  at 
lower  figures  than  individual  storekeepers  could  ever  get. 
This  would  enable  its  salesmen  to  sell  at  lower  prices  than  its 
competitors  and  virtually  command  all  the  trade.  The  Cross 
Creek  Coal  Company  has  conducted  stores  which  are  wholly 
separated  from  the  mines.  The  company  pays  its  employes  in 
money  and  the  men  are  at  liberty  to  trade  where  they  will. 


REFLECTIONS.  249 

These  stores  under  such  conditions  do  a  large  volume  of  busi- 
ness. The  Syndicate  could  do  the  same.  Stores  conducted  in 
this  manner  would  be  wholly  different  from  the  "  pluck-me  " 
store  and  others  of  the  same  type  described  in  a  former  chapter. 
The  objectionable  features  there  specified  would  be  wholly 
eliminated  and  the  institution  placed  on  a  basis  of  public 
utility. 

THE    CONDITIONS    OF    PEACE    AND    PROSPERITY    TO    CAPITAL. 

__ . ;-  /— >^    

Capital  should  concede  the  demands  of  labor  for  \boards  of 

^"^^^•^22S~"^^^^*\S  -•'  A    /  ,__irr- 

conciliation,  before  which  disputes  can  be  discussed  and,  for  the 
greatest  part,  amicably  settled.  This  method  of  free  discussion, 
by  bringing  employer  and  employed  face  toTace,  Tias  worked 
satisfactorily  ta_butli  parties  in  the  ^itamiDousxibal  fields,  and 
it  is  the  system  which  has  long  prevailed  in  the  mining  industry 
of  Great  Britain.  L.  L.  Price  has  described  its  operation  in 
Durham  and  Northumberland,  England,  in  his  book  on  "  In- 
dustrial Peace." 

A  committee  of  twelve  men  meet,  six  representing  the  Miners7 
Association  and  six  the  Coal-owners'  Association,  and  both 
bodies  annually  choose  the  chairman.  "  All  disputes  arising 
at  particular  collieries  between  masters  and  men,  which  are  laid 
before  the  committee,  may  be  settled  by  its  own  decision  or  re- 
ferred to  arbitration,  and  should  the  arbitrators  disagree  about 
the  appointment  of  an  umpire,  the  selection  is  to  be  made  by 
the  judge  of  the  Durham  County  Court."  Over  2,000  cases 
came  before  this  committee  in  four  years  and  less  than  7  per 
cent,  of  them  were  referred  to  arbitration. 

This  plan  has  many  advantages.  Labor  feels  that  it  is  some- 
thing more  than  a  commodity,  that  it  is  a  partner  in  the  work 
of  production.  Its  sense  of  responsibility  increases  when  it 
freely  discusses  the  conditions  under  which  labor  and  capital 
will  cooperate  for  another  year  in  the  work  of  production. 
Each  one  tries  to  put  himself  in  the  other's  place  and  regulate 
its  own  demands  according  as  they  appear  reasonable  from  the 
other  side.  It  is  not  to  be  supposed,  however,  that  all  the 
meetings  of  the  board  are  peaceful.  Sometimes  it  meets  in 


250  THE   ANTHRACITE    COAL   INDUSTRY. 

anger  and  discussion  is  useless.  With  all  the  machinery  of 
conciliation  and  arbitration  an  occasional  appeal  to  strikes  has 
not  been  avoided.  But  they  are  far  less  frequent  than  they 
were,  for  the  committee  affords  an  opportunity  for  explanation, 
so  that  misunderstandings  may  be  removed  and  mutual  con- 
cessions made.  One  significant  fact  in  the  scheme  is  that  gen- 
erally the  men  trust  their  representatives  and  submit  to  their 
decisions.  This  accustoms  the  workmen  to  trust  in  one  another 
and  to  know  each  other,  to  cooperate  and  discuss  under  com- 
petent guides  questions  of  wide  and  far-seeing  policy. 

It  has  benefits  to  the  employers  also.  It  helps  them  to  look 
at  the  human  side  of  the  business  of  mining,  and  see  how  an 
insignificant  move  on  their  part  may  affect  hundreds  of  families. 
They  are  shown  how  capital  can  expand  and  enrich  life,  or  con- 
tract and  sour  it.  Their  notions  of  justice  are  broadened,  and 
nothing  tends  to  bring  home  to  them  in  a  more  direct  manner 
the  responsibility  of  wealth,  than  to  meet  labor  and  learn  its 
needs. 

The  Anthracite  Coal  Syndicate  may  also  profit  by  past  ex- 
perience. Greed  has  wrecked  former  attempts  at  combination 
and  the  present  one  can  only  thrive  by  public  service.  The 
public  conscience  measures  all  things  by  their  utility  and  the 
law  of  usefulness  is  the  law  of  life.  The  Syndicate  may  be  well 
organized,  it  may  command  the  best  financial  skill  and  have 
abundant  resources  to  draw  from,  but  these  will  not  save  it 
from  failure  if  the  quality  of  public  service  does  not  charac- 
terize its  activity.  Unionism  owes  essential  duties  to  the  con- 
sumer and  capitalist  and  those  of  the  Syndicate  to  consumer  and 
laborer  are  not  less  imperative.  We  have  heard  some  operators 
say  "business  is  business,"  meaning  thereby  that  moral  senti- 
ment has  no  place  in  the  game.  There  is  no  more  dangerous 
fallacy  conceivable.  The  threads  which  hold  together  the  busi- 
ness world  are  interwoven  with  the  principles  of  morality. 
There  are  principles  of  sympathy  and  justice,  of  humanity  and 
equity,  which  no  operator  who  looks  for  success  can  disregard. 
Temporary  success  may  be  achieved,  but  it  is  only  apparent. 
Wrongs  accumulate  against  the  day  of  wrath  and  indignation 


REFLECTIONS.  251 

and  the  unjust  operator  pays  a  terrible  price  for  his  forgetful - 
ness.  It  is  a  sad  sight  to  see  able  men  fleeing  from  their  com- 
fortable homes  to  hide  in  old  workings  in  the  bowels  of  the 
earth  and  spend  the  night  there,  hiding  in  fear  and  trembling 
from  the  storm  of  anger  arising  from  outraged  labor  which  has 
long  suffered  in  patience  and  silence.  The  arson  and  violence 
of  1860-1876  are  frequently  referred  to  as  dastardly  deeds  of 
workmen ;  breakers  were  burned  and  men  were  beaten  and 
slain  in  cold  blood :  it  was  a  reign  of  terror  in  many  sections 
of  the  anthracite  coal  fields.  These  deeds  of  bloodshed  and 
arson  have  been  recorded  in  many  books,  but  we  have  yet  to 
find  a  single  author  who  honestly  tries  to  analyze  the  causes 
which  led  to  these  outrages  on  society  and  humanity.  Their 
words  imply  that  a  vast  body  of  mine  employes  in  those  days 
were  murderers  and  incendiaries,  as  if  they  delighted  in  devilish 
pranks  from  pure  malice  and  envy.  That  is  not  the  case.  Such 
an  idea  is  false ;  it  is  a  libel.  There  were  gigantic  wrongs  in 
those  days.  Many  operators  then  furnished  arms  to  their  fore- 
men and  only  wanted  men  who  could  use  them.  Labor  was 
cruelly  oppressed  and  tyrannized  and  it  had  no  one  to  defend 
its  cause.  The  courts  forbade  combination  of  labor  and  prose- 
cuted many  of  the  men  who  attempted  it.  When  labor  in 
many  instances  sought  relief,  it  was  answered  with  an  oath  sup- 
plemented by  the  pointing  of  a  revolver.  Under  such  condi- 
tions was  it  amazing  that  a  secret  society  was  organized  to 
avenge  the  insults  and  the  gibes  to  labor?  When  once  they 
came  into  existence,  the  worst  men  took  the  lead  and  arson,  as- 
saults, brutality  and  murder  were  the  fruits.  The  memory  of 
those  dark  days  is  not  obliterated  and  operators  should  profit 
by  the  experience  then  dearly  bought.  If  truth  is  crucified,  the 
citadel  is  doomed.  Throw  out  the  considerations  of  morality 
from  the  industrial  program  and  the  end  is  ruin. 

The  policy  of  shooting  down  a  few  hot-heads  will  not  give 
arrogant  and  tyrannical  management  a  clear  road.  If  you 
do  some  shooting  to-day,  it  must  be  repeated  to-morrow  and 
firearms  are  not  monopolized  by  capitalists.  The  better 
way  is  to  observe  the  demands  of  justice  and  sympathy,  and 


252  THE   ANTHRACITE   COAL   INDUSTRY. 

the  public  conscience  will  secure  peace  and  prosperity.  In 
thousands  of  homes  in  the  anthracite  coal  fields  there  are  lov- 
ing wives  and  innocent  children  who  are  as  dear  to  the  mine 
employes  as  are  those  of  the  employers  to  them.  Capital  is  un- 
der obligations  to  these  dependents,  and  the  prosperity  of  the 
anthracite  industry  is  inalienably  involved  in  the  faithful  dis- 
charge of  them.  Money  is  power,  but  character  is  the  ultimate 
foundation  of  business,  and  those  who  lack  it  are  pushed  out 
by  the  expulsive  power  of  commercial  ethics.  It  is  not  lack 
of  material  wealth  that  accounts  for  the  tardiness  of  Spanish 
America  in  commercial  development,  but  it  is  the  presence  of 
cunning  and  deceit  in  its  trade.  What  accounts  for  the  success 
of  the  Teutonic  races  in  commerce  and  industry  ?  It  is  the 
sterling  moral  worth,  the  strong  uncompromising  sense  of 
justice,  the  ever-present  spirit  of  fair-play  of  the  people.  Fair 
dealing  has  been  their  ship,  justice  has  been  their  sail,  truth 
has  been  their  helm  and  honesty  their  anchor,  and  the  craft 
has  sailed  around  the  world  and  stood  the  test  of  wind  and 
tide  for  many  generations.  There  is  yet  remaining  in  the 
anthracite  coal  field  sufficient  coal  for  three  generations,  but  the 
conditions  of  successful  cooperation  are  more  moral  than  mone- 
tary. If  the  industry  is  to  flourish  it  must  be  tempered  with 
morality.  Professor  Hadley  has  well  said,  (i  The  more  com- 
pletely our  undertakings,  whether  private  or  public,  industrial 
or  political,  take  the  character  of  trusts,  the  more  impossible 
does  it  become  for  those  who  are  placed  in  authority  to  repre- 
sent personal  or  class  interests  without  gross  violation  of  what 
we  in  our  everyday  life  recognize  as  fundamental  dictates  of 
sympathy  or  of  justice." 

A  trust  in  itself  is  not  a  bad  thing.  If  properly  managed, 
it  is  a  good  thing.  It  can  effect  economy  in  production  and 
management  and  prove  beneficial  to  consumer  and  producer. 
President  Truesdale,  of  the  Delaware,  Lackawanna  and  Western 
Railroad,  speaking  in  his  annual  report  for  1900  of  the  recent 
Anthracite  Coal  Syndicate,  says  :  "All  would  seem  to  promise 
future  market  conditions  that  amount  almost  to  a  guarantee  to 
this  company  of  highly  satisfactory  results  to  its  stockholders 


REFLECTIONS.  253 

from  both  its  extensive  coal  properties  and  its  railroad  opera- 
tions/' Any  measure  which  assures  better  results  to  capital  must 
also  benefit  labor,  so  that  trusts  are  good  if  they  are  not  abused. 
Let  them  share  with  the  producer  and  the  consumer  the  savings 
due  to  economy,  and  the  public  will  welcome  their  advent.  But 
if,  on  the  one  hand,  they  sweat  labor,  and  on  the  other  pillage 
the  people,  then  a  wronged  and  outraged  public  will  effect  their 
destruction. 

It  has  been  suggested  by  some  eminent  writers  that  men  of 
ability  who  distinguish  themselves  by  great  achievements  are, 
as  a  rule,  above  the  average  in  integrity  and  moral  sensitive- 
ness. When  these  men  achieve  success  they  possess  other 
qualities  than  pure  intellectualism.  The  sphere  of  their  opera- 
tions is  mankind,  and  before  they  can  approach  it  they  must 
possess  sympathy  and  social  sensibility.  Head  and  heart  must 
go  together,  and  where  they  are  preeminent  and  well  balanced, 
so  as  to  give  their  possessor  a  place  in  the  van  of  the  industrial 
world,  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  accompanying  them  is 
also  a  sense  of  justice  and  sympathy  equally  preeminent.  Of 
course,  it  does  not  follow  that  the  successful  financier  or  opera- 
tor is  more  just  and  moral  than  men  in  the  ranks  of  the  indus- 
trial army,  but  it  does  suggest  that  on  a  priori  grounds  we  can 
expect  to  find  in  the  men  of  brains,  who  are  our  captains  of 
industry,  a  refinement  of  moral  sensibility  that  is  above  the 
average.  If  this  be  true,  then  where  this  higher  sensibility  is 
abused  or  atrophied,  it  adds  to  the  responsibility  of  capitalists. 
A  common  laborer,  incapable  of  filling  any  position  save  the 
commonest,  lacking  education  and  refinement,  whose  intellect 
has  never  been  fully  awakened,  can  be  excused  if  he  fails  to 
perceive  and  feel  the  immorality  of  skimping  work  or  idling 
away  time.  His  education  and  training  are  defective  and 
must  be  supplemented  by  discipline  and  supervision.  But 
operators,  the  wide-awake  men,  the  men  of  thought  and  train- 
ing in  the  ways  of  life,  cannot  claim  any  such  exonera- 
tion. They  know  what  the  dictates  of  justice  are,  and  can 
by  instinct  tell  where  the  right  and  wrong  of  business  trans- 
actions come  in. 


254  THE    ANTHRACITE    COAL    INDUSTRY. 

This  a  priori  argument,  which  however  does  not  lack  histor- 
ical basis  in  industrial  life,  leads  us  to  expect  from  capital  a 
stronger  defense  of  industrial  ethics  than  from  labor,  and  the 
need  of  the  hour  is  for  the  keen  moral  insight  of  capitalists 
and  entrepreneurs  to  be  exercised  so  that  they  will  deal  justly 
by  labor.  Flesh  and  blood  is  of  greater  value  than  silver  and 
gold.  Pure  women  and  strong  men  are  more  essential  for  the 
welfare  of  the  nation  than  stocks  and  bonds.  A  well-devel- 
oped mind  and  a  sound,  healthy  heart  in  the  national  organism 
is  the  most  sure  foundation  for  industry  and  commerce. 

The  brilliant  minds  which  are  at  the  head  of  the  anthracite 
industry  are  patriotic,  humane  and  just.  Most  of  them  are  far 
removed  from  the  scene  of  the  industry  which  yields  them  profit 
on  their  investment,  but  it  would  enrich  their  lives  to  come 
into  closer  touch  with  the  men  who  dig  coal  under  dangerous 
and  disagreeable  conditions.  They  would  be  better  able  to 
understand  their  position,  sympathize  with  their  difficulties, 
and  intelligently  comprehend  their  requirements.  The  returns 
in  the  coal  industry  of  late  years  have  not  been  adequate  to 
remunerate  the  operators  or  to  give  the  laborers  a  satisfactory 
livelihood.  Stockholders  in  anthracite  coal  mines  know  this, 
but  the  suffering  consequent  to  it  among  mining  employes  is 
not  known  to  them. 

Nothing  proves  more  conclusively  that  anthracite  mining 
has  been  profitable  than  the  fact  that  the  vast  aggregation  of 
capital  invested  in  the  industry  has  been  a  profitable  invest- 
ment under  a  system  of  mining  that  was  extremely  expensive. 
Machinery  representing  millions  of  dollars  only  working  two- 
thirds  time  is  far  from  reaching  its  maximum  productive  ca- 
pacity. Here  is  room  for  the  Syndicate  to  introduce  reforms 
which  will  yield  better  returns  to  capital  and  a  larger  annual  in- 
come to  labor.  More  intensive  mining  is  needed.  Fewer  col- 
lieries and  greater  regularity  of  employment  is  the  way  of 
reform.  Periodicity  is  in  the  nature  of  the  industry,  for  pro- 
duction depends  partly  on  the  seasons.  But,  in  addition  to  the 
fluctuations  due  to  the  seasons,  the  greed  of  rival  operators  as 
well  as  railroad  carriers,  played  an  important  rdle  in  intermit- 


REFLECTIONS.  255 

tent  labor  in  past  years.  These  elements  can  be  eliminated  by 
the  Syndicate,  which  will  result  in  more  days'  work,  and  thus 
increase  the  annual  earnings  of  the  workmen. 

In  the  sociological  part  of  the  study  we  shall  have  more  to 
say  upon  the  social  conditions  of  mining  communities.  Here, 
however,  we  may  say  a  few  words  upon  the  subject  relative  to 
the  responsibility  of  those  who  reap  large  fortunes  from  the 
industry.  Mr.  Carnegie,  by  his  munificence,  deservedly  re- 
ceives the  encomiums  of  a  grateful  public.  His  good  deeds 
will  not  be  buried  with  his  bones. 

Those  who  have  lived  and  labored  among  the  mining  com- 
munities of  northeastern  Pennsylvania  know  how  much  good 
could  be  done  by  a  similar  generosity  in  these  towns,  villages 
and  cities,  but  the  sense  of  responsibility  for  such  use  of 
wealth  is  sadly  wanting  in  the  men  who  have  grown  rich  in 
the  industry.  Virtually,  we  can  say,  nothing  has  been  done  to 
provide  for  the  intellectual  and  moral  training  of  these  thou- 
sands. In  all  these  centers  of  human  life,  with  very  rare 
exceptions,  no  gift  commemorates  the  name  of  any  of  the  coal 
barons.  When  we  think  of  the  deteriorating  influences  work- 
ing daily  upon  the  lives  of  these  youths,  and  actually  nothing 
done  to  counteract  their  effects,  this  gross  lack  of  the  sense  of  re- 
sponsibility in  the  use  of  wealth  on  the  part  of  anthracite  coal 
millionaires  cannot  escape  censure.  We  are  convinced  that  no 
better  field  for  philanthropy  is  found,  and  everyone  conversant 
with  the  situation  knows  how  great  the  need  is.  These  towns 
and  villages  are  teeming  with  children.  The  prolific  Sclav  is 
settling  down  and  raising  a  family,  and  the  high  birth-rate 
characteristic  of  Austria  and  Hungary  is  common  in  Sclav  set- 
tlements. These  children  grow  up  in  an  environment  which 
is  far  from  favorable  to  steady  and  temperate  habits,  purity  of 
life  and  intellectual  culture.  The  public  school,  providing  the 
child  is  sent  there,  furnishes  a  good  foundation,  but  it  only  goes 
a  little  way.  The  child,  raised  on  a  hearth  as  truly  Sclav  as  if 
it  were  on  the  hills  of  Galicia,  enters  school  at  six  years  of  age 
and  is  sent  to  the  breaker  before  he  reaches  his  eleventh  year, 
so  that  the  public  school  does  not  go  very  far.  Something 


256  THE    ANTHRACITE    COAL    INDUSTRY. 

more  is  needed  to  carry  his  education  further,  and  a  part  of  the 
wealth  annually  produced  in  these  mines,  and  going  to  capital- 
ists, ought  to  be  consecrated  to  this  great  need.  The  moral 
and  intellectual  life  of  these  communities  ought  to  be  a  con- 
cern to  operators  from  considerations  of  patriotism  and  humanity. 
Professor  Marshall,  speaking  of  degraded  labor,  says :  "  The 
fundamental  wrong  is  in  allowing  large  classes  of  people  to 
grow  up  with  so  poor  an  education,  physical,  mental  and  moral, 
that  they  are  unfit  for  intelligent  and  energetic  work,  and  must 
crowd  into  and  pull  down  the  wages  of  the  few  kinds  of  work 
of  which  they  are  capable.  For  this  evil,  the  ultimate  remedy 
is  in  the  higher  education  of  the  mass  of  the  people." 

The  cry  against  the  increase  of  wealth  is  largely  misinter- 
preted and  misrepresented.  There  does  not  seem  to  be  a  con- 
demnation of  wealth  as  such,  but  of  the  selfish  use  of  it.  The 
public  conscience  does  not  so  much  condemn  the  millionaire  as 
it  does  the  use  of  the  power  at  his  command.  It  demands  that 
men  of  wealth  use  their  means  as  an  instrument  for  good  pur- 
pose. The  power  of  money  should  be  devoted  to  the  broadest 
and  highest  human  utilities.  This  is  the  supreme  social  obli- 
gation demanded  of  justice,  required  of  humanity,  and  com- 
manded of  patriotism.  The  people  protest  against  selfish  indi- 
vidualism which  cares  nothing  to  develop  social  duties  and 
sympathies.  Men  of  wealth,  who  separate  themselves  from  the 
social  body,  and  destroy  every  generous  impulse  toward  the 
oppressed  and  lowly,  are  moral  perverts  and  deservedly  fall 
under  public  censure.  Archbishop  Butler  felt  ashamed  of  a 
$1,000  that  laid  in  his  house  unused  when  there  was  suffering 
and  want  in  the  streets  ;  anthracite  coal  millionaires  also  should 
feel  ashamed  of  their  wealth,  when  the  youths  of  anthracite 
communities  are  suffering  physically,  intellectually  and  morally 
for  the  want  of  proper  and  suitable  means  of  culture.  Selfish- 
ness in  high  places  disturbs  the  peace  of  society,  and  its  ma- 
levolent influence  pervades  the  lower  ranks  of  life.  When  dis- 
ease consumes  the  vital  force  of  the  body,  it  renders  it  more 
susceptible  to  the  influence  of  destructive  forces.  It  is  the 
same  in  the  social  organism.  Where  a  community  grows  up 


[REFLECTIONS.  257 

in  ignorance,  there  we  find  bigotry,  prejudice,  and  class-hatred 
rampant.  Demagogism  has  disturbed  the  peace  of  the  conser- 
vative classes  in  our  country  these  latter  days,  and  justly  so, 
for  in  a  Republic  a  tidal  wave  may  lift  it  to  the  seat  of  au- 
thority. Communities,  left  to  the  degenerating  forces  of  drink 
and  vice,  furnish  the  demagogue  the  material  he  desires,  and  in 
his  hand  it  becomes  a  menace  to  the  public  weal.  There  are 
pathological  symptoms  of  moral  degeneracy  in  anthracite  com- 
munities, which  demand  strong  and  vigorous  remedies,  and  the 
means  to  apply  the  remedies  should  be  supplied  by  the  persons 
who  reap  large  dividends  from  anthracite  mining. 


17 


INDEX. 


A  CCIDENTS,  causes  of,  161 
J\    classification  of,  157 

number  of,  152 

psychical  effects  of,  153 
Air,  amount  needed,  23,  87 
Airways,  dimensions  of,  26 
Aleatory  element,  8,  43 
Allotment  of  production,  73 
Allowance,  variation  in,  115 

cutting  down,  115 
Amalgamated  Association,  182,  192 
Anthracite,  component  parts  of,  4 

economical  value  of,  1 

geological  formation  of,  8 

nature  of,  3 

semi-,  4 

Syndicate,  benefit  of,  128 
Area  of  coal  fields,  5,  6 
Ashburner,vC.  A.,  52 

BAKN-BOSS,  90 
Bastiat,  247 
Bates  Union,  172,  192 
Bidder,  G.  P.,  45,  51 
Blasting,  regulations  of,  92 
Bob-tail  check,  148 
Bore-holes,  cost  of  sinking,  24 
Breaker,  improvements  in,  217 
Brooks,  John  Graham,  196 
Brown,  Col.  D.  P.,  220 
Bureau  of  Mines,  expenses  of,  97 
Butler,  Archbishop,  256 

pAMERON,  Senator,  109 

\J     Capital  goods,  estimate  of,  42 

need  of,  57 

Capitalistic  system,  the,  229 
Capitalists,  moral  sensitiveness  of,  253 
Capitalization,  transforming  power  of, 

Captains  of  industry,  need  of,  239 
Canals,  miles  of,  63 
Chambers,  rate  of  progress  in,  27,  28 
Chance,   Dr.   H.   M.,  50,   215,    218, 

223 

Cheap  labor,  importation  of,  104 
Children,  employment  of,  100 
Clark,  Prof.  J.  B.,  232 
Coal,  amount  mined  and  to  be  mined, 
11 

basins,  geological  formation  of,  8 

inspection  of,  94 

land,  appreciation  of,  37,  40 


Coal  land,  capital  in,  41 

measures,  thickness  of,  9 
Owners'  Association,  249 
size  of,  94 

Collective  ownership,  13,  14 
Colonists,  37 
Community  of  interests,  71,  73,  74, 

78 
Company  houses,  130,  132 

stores,  attempts  to  abolish,  129 
business  and  profits  of,  139, 

141 

good  and  bad  of,  145 
number  and  kind  of,  136, 138 
Competition,  good  and  bad  of,  46,  69, 

78 

Conciliation,  need  of,  249 
Cost  of  production,  45,  47,  49,  51,  53 
Coxe,  Eckley  B.,  223 
Crossham,  216 
Culm-bank,  amount  of  coal  in,  222, 

224 
system  of  leasing,  225 

DELAWARE  and   Hudson    Canal 
Company,  38,  39,  51,  62,  68 
Delaware,  Lackawanna  and  Western 

Company,  43,  50,  67,  75,  202 
Dickson,  President  of  Delaware  and 

Hudson,  179 

Diminishing  returns,  30,  32 
Discipline,  need  of,  85 
Distribution,  inequality  of,  58,  230 
Dockage,  119 
Drilling  machines,  32 
Driver-boss,  duties  of,  90 

T7CONOMIC  loss,  168 

JLJ    Economics  and  morality,  229 

Economy,  increased,  217 

El  well,  Judge,  arbitration  of,  180 

Employes,  coal  sold  to,  133 

increase  and  classification  of,  106, 
107 

personnel  of,  103 
Engineering,  mining,  85 
Engineers,  duties  of,  93 
Environment,  influence  of,  233 
Ethical  factor,  the,  237 

T7AVORITISM,  123,  150 

r     Financial  Chronicle,  185,  187 

Fire-boss,  duties  of,  89 


259 


260 


INDEX. 


Fixed  charges,  33 
Flushing  the  mines,  219 
Footman,  duties  of,  93 
Fowler,  T.  P.,  55 

n  ANGWAYS,      dimensions      and 

U     length  of,  26,  29 

Garner  bill,  97 

Geological  structure,  influence  of,  12 

Gide,  Charles,  36,  59 

Gore,  the  blacksmith,  37 

Gowan  compromise,  the,  179 

Franklin  B.,  75 
Griffith,  William,  11,  41,  65 

TTADLEY,  President,  230,  252 
-Q     Hanna,  Mark,  232 
Harris,  Joseph  S.,  11,  44,  70,  201 
Henry,  William,  40 

INCIDENTAL  profits  of  operators, 

JL  .1  lj.7 

Increased  profits,  79 

Individual  operators,  19 
possession,  12 

Injured,  bill  for  care  of,  164 

Inside  foremen,  duties  and  qualifica- 
tions of,  88 

Inspectors,  number  and  qualifications 
of,  96,  97 

Intermittent  labor,  causes  and  effects 
of,  126,  127 

Improved  machinery,  32,  33 

Improvidence,  149 

KILLED,  average  age  and  nation- 
ality of,  169 

expectation  of  life  of,  169 
number  of,  159 
Knights  of  Labor,  182,  192,  200,  203 

T  ABOE,  monopoly  prices  on,  242 
Ju    Laborers,  no  paradise  for,  234 

rights  of,  210 

wages  of,  28,  112 
Lattimore  riots,  186 
Laws,  violation  of,  151 
LegislatiQn  and  monopoly,  15,  77 
Legislative  interference,  59,  79,  95 
Lehigh  and  Wilkes-Barre  Coal  Co., 

72,95 

Valley  Co.,  62,  72 
Living  wage,  59 
Local  unions,  195 
Long  strike,  the,  181 
Lytle  shaft,  25,  43,  49,  133 

MAFIA,  the,  206 
Marat,  232 
Marginal  returns,  31 


Marshall,  Prof.  A.,  241,  256 
Middle   Coal  Field,  area  and  subdi- 
vision of,  6 

Miners'   bravery  and  carelessness  of. 
153,  154 

duties  and  qualifications  of,  91 

outfit  and  earnings  of,  112,  113 
Miners'  Benevolent  Association,  174 

Journal,    Pottsville,    109,     173, 
177,  218 

National  organization,  193 
Mining,  early  days  of,  17 

improvements  in,  246 

laws  regulating,  96,  99 

methods  of,  20 

plants,  capital  in,  44 
Mitchell,  John,  184 
M'Leod,  A.  A.,  70,  75,  76 
Mollie  Maguires,  71,  193 
Monopoly,  a  natural,  14 

benefits  of,  15 

restraints  on,  77 
Moral  training,  need  of,  255 
Morgan,  J.  P.,  41,  66,  76,  230 

YfAEEOW  WOEK,    fixing    prices 
li     for,  27 

Nation,  the,  174,  201,  214 
Nicols,  William  Jasper,  201 
Nobles,  David,  38 
Nominal  wage,  117 
Non-fatal  injuries,  number  of,  163 
North  American  Review,  218 
Northern  Coal  Field,  area  and  coal 
measures  of,  5,  6 

APEEATOES,  hostility  of,  202 
VJ    rivalries  of,  174 
Organizer,  address  of,  199 
Organizers  of  U.  M.  W.,  197 
Orphans,  number  of,  164 
Outside  foremen,  duties  of,  93 

PEACE,  conditions  of,  249 
Pennsylvania  Coal  Co.,  39,  41,  47 

74 

Pennsylvania  Eailroad,  73 
Pillars,  robbing,  220 
Powder,  increased  use  of,  11 8,  135,  136 

price  of,  133 
Price,  L.  L.,  249 
Production,  regulation  of,  69 
Promotion  of  employes,  166 

pAILEOADS,     development     and 
It        consolidation  of,  65,  67 

profits  of,  76 

rates  of,  34,  55,  75 
Eeading  Coal  and  Iron  Co.,  42,  52, 
62,  70,  102,  180,  202 


INDEX. 


261 


Eeflections,  228 
Right  of  contract,  13 
Riley,  Lewis  A.,  24 
Rivers  in  coal  fields,  7 
Rosiers,  Paul  de,  196 
Royalties,  55 

OCLAVS,  number  of,  104 

l>     unionism  among,  172 

Secretary  of  Internal  Affairs,  103 

Self-help,  60 

Shaffer,  Arthur  S.,  224 

Shafts,  depths  of,  10,  23 

dimensions  of,  24 

cost  of  sinking,  25 
Shenandoah,  103,  186,  206 
Shift,  length  of,  122 
Shoemaker,  Col.,  239 
Slate  boss,  91 
Sliding  scale,  177 
Slope  mining,  22 
Small  sizes  of  coal,  use  of,  218,  219, 

224 
Smith,  A.  D.  W.,  11 

Abijah,  40 

John,  63 

Solidarity  of  labor,  190 
Southern  Coal  Field,  area  and  subdi- 
vision, 6 

Standard  Oil  Co., 
State  interference,  81 
Steam  shovels,  20 
Stearns,  J.  A.,  215 
Strike,  the  right  to,  242 
Strikes,  effects  of,  188 

estimated  cost  of,  186 

history  of,  172 
Stripping  mining,  20,  21 

employes  and  wages  in,  21,  48 
Sumner,  Prof.  W.  G.,  236,  247 
Supply  and  demand,  58 
Surplus  labor,  105,  125 
causes  of,  106 

Susquehanna,  old  valley  of,  25 
Syndicate,  improvements  by,  244 

moral  demands  on,  250 


THOMPSON,  HEBER  S.,  218,  224 
1     Timbering,  cost  of,  26,  29 
Ton,  variation  in,  120 
Toynbee,  Arnold,  235 
Track,  miles  of,  29 
Transportation,  early  means  of,  63 

rates  of,  74,  76 
Truesdale,  President,  252 
Tunnelling,  cost  of,  63 

TTNIONISM,  192,  205 
U     effects  of,  203 
limits  of,  207 
need  of,  240 
politics  in,  243 
United  Mine  Workers'  Organization, 

195 
acknowledgment  of,  124, 193 

TTENTILATION,  23 
T      cost  of,  29 

methods  of,  86 
Veins,  exhaustion  of  the  richest,  19 

irregularities  of,  10 
Veith,  John,  42 
Virtue,  Dr.,  201 

WAGES,  a  uniform  basis  of,  16 
history  of,  108 
present  rate  of,  111,  126 
variation  in,  114 
Waste,  50 

causes  of,  213,  215 
Washeries,  cost  of  and  returns  from, 

225,  226 
number  of,  223 
when  first  erected,  220 
Water-level  mining,  18 
Water  tanks,  49 
Wealth,  wrong  use  of,  256 
Widows,  number  of,  164 
Working  days,  number  of,  121 
Workingmen's   Benevolent  Associa- 
tion, 69,  71,  78,  175,  192,  200,  243 
Wurts,  William,  38,  62 


ECONOMIC  GEOLOGY 

OF  THE 

UNITED  STATES 

WITH  BEIEFER  MENTION  OF  FOEEIGN  MINERAL  PRODUCTS. 

BY  RAJDPH  STOCKMAN  TAKE,  B.S.,  F.G.S.A. 

SECOND  EDITION.     REVISED.     f3.5O. 


COMMENTS. 

"  I  am  more  than  pleased  with  your  new  '  Economic  Geology  of  the  United 
States.'  An  introduction  to  this  subject,  fully  abreast  of  its  recent  progress,  and 
especially  adapted  to  American  students  and  readers,  has  been  a  desideratum. 
The  book  is  admirably  suited  for  class  use,  and  I  shall  adopt  it  as  the  text-book 
for  instruction  in  Economic  Geology  in  Colorado  College.  It  is  essentially  accu- 
rate, while  written  in  a  pleasant  and  popular  style,  and  is  one  of  the  few  books 
on  practical  geology  that  the  general  public  is  sure  to  pronounce  readable.  The 
large  share  of  attention  given  to  non-metallic  resources  is  an  especially  valuable 
feature." — FRANCIS  W.  CRAGIN,  Professor  of  Geology,  Mineralogy,  and  Pa- 
Iceontology  at  Colorado  College. 

"I  have  examined  Professor  R.  S.  Tarr's  'Economic  Geology'  with  much 
pleasure.  It  fills  a  felt  want.  It  will  be  found  not  only  very  helpful  to  students 
and  teachers  by  furnishing  the  fundamental  facts  of  the  science,  but  it  places 
within  easy  reach  of  the  business  man,  the  capitalist  and  the  statesman,  fresh, 
reliable,  and  complete  statistics  of  our  national  resources.  The  numerous  tables 
bringing  out  in  an  analytic  way  the  comparative  resources  and  productiveness  of 
our  country  and  of  different  states,  are  a  specially  convenient  and  admirable  fea- 
ture. The  work  is  an  interesting  demonstration  of  the  great  public  importance 
of  the  science  of  geology."— JAMES  E.  TODD,  State  Geologist,  South  Dakota. 

"  It  is  one  of  those  books  that  is  valuable  for  what  it  omits,  and  for  the  con- 
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leading  American  ore  bodies  at  a  glance.  Were  my  course  one  of  text-books,  I 
should  certainly  use  it,  and  I  have  already  called  the  attention  of  my  students  to 
its  value  as  a  book  of  reference."— EDWARD  H.  WILLIAMS,  Professor  of  Mining, 
Engineering,  and  Geology  at  Lehigh  University. 

"  I  have  taken  time  for  a  careful  examination  of  the  work :  and  it  gives  me 
pleasure  to  say  that  it  is  very  satisfactory.  Regarded  simply  as  a  general  treatise 
on  Economic  Geology,  it  is  a  distinct  advance  on  anything  that  we  had  before ; 
while  in  its  relation  to  the  Economic  deposits  of  this  country  it  is  almost  a  new 
creation  and  certainly  supplies  a  want  long  and  keenly  felt  by  both  teachers  and 
general  students.  Its  appearance  was  most  timely  in  my  case,  and  my  class  in 
Economic  Geology  are  already  using  it  as  a  text-book." — WILLIAM  O.  CROSBY, 
Assistant  Professor  of  Structural  and  Economic  Geology  at  the  Massachusetts 
Institute  of  Technology. 


THE  MACMILLAK  COMPAJ^Y 

66  FIFTH  AVENUE  NEW  YORK  CITY 


ELEMENTARY  GEOLOGY 


BY 


RAJLPH  STOCKMAN  TARR,  B.S.,  F.G.S.A. 

Professor  of  Dynamic  Geology  and  Physical  Geography  at  Cornell  University 
Author  of  "Economic  Geology  of  the  United  States,''  etc. 


12MO.    CLOTH.    486  PP.    PRICE  $1.4O  NET 


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